Images From Libya, Bangalore Shared As IAF Jet Shot Down In Nepal

Two old and unrelated images are viral to falsely claim that Nepal shot down and Indian Air Force (IAF) jet, killing two pilots in retaliation to an airstrike led by Indian forces near the border of the two countries.

The first image shows an aircraft on fire, crashing and the second is of debris lying on the ground and were shared by the Twitter account (@Irmaknepal) which has been notorious in sharing fake news around India and Nepal. 

The photos were shared with the caption, "Indian airforce had crossed the border to conduct airstrike on the Nepal territories today. India conducted an airstrike in Kot Kharak Singh Pernawan near India Nepal border. In responding, we've shot down Indian jet & two Indian pilots killed."

BOOM had previously debunked misinformation from the same account when it had shared an image of quadcopter falsely claiming that the Nepali army had shot down an Indian spying drone.

Also Read: No, This Is Not An Indian Spying Quadcopter Shot Down By The Nepali Army

Click here to view, and here for an archive.

Viral on Facebook

On searching with the same caption on Facebook, we found that the images were being shared with the false claim.

FACT-CHECK

A reverse image search using Google showed that both the images were old and unrelated. While one of the images is from 2011, shot in Libya, the other is from Bangalore, Karnataka.

Image 1

We found that the photo was taken by a German photographer Anja Niedringhaus of a Lybian warplane which was shot down over the outskirts of Benghazi, eastern Libya on March 19, 2011. CBS News had reported that there were conflicting reports on whether it was a Moammar Gadhafi led Libyan government jet or one flown by rebels in Benghazi, Libya during the Lybian civil war.

We also found the photo in the AP Images archive.

Image 2 

A reverse image search using Google Images, showed that the photo was from the crash site where Indian Air Force's (IAF) Mirage-2000 fighter crashed at a military airport in the Bengaluru's eastern suburb on Feb 1, 2019. 

Squadron Leaders Samir Abrol and Siddharth Negi died of fatal injuries after the aircraft crashed at the military airport runway near Bengaluru when it was on an acceptance sortie following its upgrade by the HAL reported The Statesman on February 2, 2019.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which owns and operates the airport, attributed the crash to a technical snag reported Deccan Herald.

Additionally, PIB FactCheck, a fact check arm of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also dismissed the claims made and stated that no action has been conducted by Indian airforce on any neighbouring country

We did not find any credible news reports stating that India had conducted an airstrike in Kot Kharak Singh Pernawan near the India-Nepal border.

Also Read: Does This Video Show Final Moments Before Pak Plane Cras