A video of firing guns from Myanmar is viral on social media as the current situation in Manipur.

Last month, in the north-east state of India, Manipur, clashes between locals belonging to two different community people, Meitei and Kuki tribe erupted. Many people lost their lives and many were found wounded. Indian army and paramilitary forces had to step in to control the situation.

Social media are flooded with posts and videos of various kinds of violence claiming to be from Manipur. In one such video, a group of people can be seen firing while taking cover behind a wall. This one minute video showed several rounds of bullets being fired and at the end of the video it was requested to PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to resolve the issue. It was claimed that this video is a recent situation in Manipur.

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. This is an old video from Myanmar and not from Manipur.

What’s the claim?

Sharing the video, social media users are claiming that the condition in Manipur is not stable yet and it is difficult to survive in such a situation when there are gunshots everywhere. Kuki militants in Manipur are firing day and night.

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Fact Check-

A Google Reverse Image Search on a keyframe of the video led us to a Myanmar based verified Facebook Page ‘Midland Voice - Myaelatt Athan.’ It was mentioned that this incident took place in Saltaung, Myanmar on 22 May, 2023.

In this incident, 12 people including a military officer were killed when local defense forces raided the saltaung police station. This attack was carried out by Myanmar based Zero Guerrilla Brigade Battalion 7 - Myeng Farm District. This incident started around 6pm on 21 May and lasted for about 3 hours.

A YouTube video on Mandalay Free Press channel, showing the same violence mentioned that at least 10 members of the military group were killed in Salt Mountain region after a raid was carried out on Sartaung Police Station by a joint operation of local army and People Defence Force (PDF) on 20 May evening.

Myanmar Now reported that a platoon commander of the People’s Defense Force mentioned that Sartaung police station of Sagaing Township was attacked on 21 May. The station had around 30 policemen and soldiers when PDF battalions attacked them. Fighter Jets came to help the policemen in the station, after which the PDF battalion had to retreat.

According to the PDF commander the attack was successful and they were able to reach the base but they failed to capture the station. 12 members of the military group were killed in this attack.

After this, we contacted a journalist from Myanmar. He informed us that the video that is viral on social media was released by a local PDF called Sa Taung People Defense Force. He also mentioned that this incident took place on 20 May when a group of PDF battalions attacked a local police station. Few police officers died in this attack. This incident was also reported by many Myanmar based news agencies.

Conclusion:

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. The video that is viral on social media is from Myanmar. An incident of violence in Myanmar was falsely shared as recent firing by the Kuki tribe in Manipur.