International

FACT CHECK: Were Taliban Fighters Playing With Severed Heads In The Video?

A video of a group of people playing with a cut-off human head like a football is going viral on social media. Many have been sharing this video along with a claim that it shows the barbarity of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Fact Crescendo received many fact-check requests about this video on our WhatsApp FactLine (9049053770).

We found out these claims are false. The video is old and from Syria.

WHAT’S THE CLAIM?

We can see men kicking what appears to be decapitated human heads in the viral clip. The caption along with this video read: These Taliban terrorists are playing with severed human heads like a football. It is a sad day for humanity. Do you want to leave your children at their mercy or wipe out them from the earth instead? Think about it.

FACT CHECK

Using In-Vid Tool, we performed a reverse image search on key frames of the video. The results showed a Facebook post by Tahrir News in which the same viral video was shared on 29 December 2013. 

According to the Arabic caption of the post, this video is from Syria where ISIS terrorists were seen playing football with severed heads. The same information was also given on another Facebook page and Vimeo video.

Taking clues from it, we looked for more information about this video. An Arabic news website Abna 24 had reported at the time that the same video clip was aired on Syrian TV news channels. According to them, the video shows violent acts of ISIS terrorists in the city of Adra. 

Although the video was widely circulated in 2013 in Syria, it was also pointed out the attire and appearances of the men seen in the video were not from Syria.  The conclusive evidence were not available at the time also. 

CONCLUSION

The viral video claimed to be from Afghanistan was not recent. It is available on the Internet since 2013. Syrian TV channels had broadcasted this video at the time reporting it to be from the city of Adra. But Fact Crescendo could not verify its authenticity independently.

Title:Were Taliban Fighters Playing With Severed Heads In The Video?

Fact Check By: Mayur Deokar

Result: False

Mayur Deokar

Recent Posts

No, The Missile Didn’t Explode While The Gaza Man Was Performing Stunts With His Skateboard.

Recently a video of a person flipping a skateboard and performing stunts on a missile…

22 hours ago

2024 video of Shashi Tharoor’s remarks on Donald Trump goes viral as his recent delegation visits US

This viral video is from the Jaipur Literature Festival in New York in September 2024,…

22 hours ago

Old Video Of A Soldier Being Welcomed By His Family Going Viral Linking To Operation Sindoor.

Recently, a video of a Sikh Indian soldier being welcomed by his family went viral…

2 days ago

Has Jyoti Malhotra actually beaten up by people? Know the truth

This is a video from Bangladesh in February 2025, showing a woman being beaten for…

2 days ago

Coca-Cola, Ariel, KitKat, Garnier, Oreo and KFC are not Turkish Products.

After a recent terrorist attack in India, Turkey showed its support to Pakistan. This led…

2 days ago

Is Ben & Jerry’s Selling a “FREE PALESTINE” Ice Cream?

A viral image circulating on social media appears to show a Ben & Jerry’s flavor…

2 days ago