Fact Check: Six Assam Rifles soldiers killed by Myanmar-based ULFA group? No, find the facts here
Social media users are claiming that the secessionist group, ULFA, killed six Assam Rifles soldiers in a retaliatory attack.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:Secessionist group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) killed six Assam Rifles soldiers in a retaliatory attack.
Fact:The claim is false. The coffin image is old, and we found no credible reports that stated that six Assam Rifles soldiers were killed by ULFA.
Hyderabad: The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), or ULFA (I), which is involved in a secessionist movement against India, issued statements on July 13 accusing the army of attacking its mobile camps.
In this context, social media users are claiming that six Indian Army soldiers from the Assam Rifles were reportedly killed in a retaliatory strike carried out by the Myanmar-based ULFA group.
An X user shared an image of coffins draped in national flags and wrote, āSix Indian Army Assam Rifles soldiers have reportedly been killed in a retaliatory attack by the Myanmar-based ULFA group.ā (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the coffin image is old, and there are no reports of Assam Rifles soldiers being killed by ULFA.
Through a reverse image search, we found the image published by The Washington Post and Shutterstock in August 2013. According to these sources, the photo showed coffins of five Indian Army soldiers allegedly killed by Pakistani intruders at a brigade headquarters in Poonch on August 6, 2013, in Jammu and Kashmir.
This confirmed that the image was unrelated to any attacks by ULFA on Indian Army soldiers.
Were Assam Rifles soldiers killed by ULFA?
We conducted a keyword search but found no credible reports confirming that six Assam Rifles soldiers were killed in a retaliatory attack by ULFA.
However, several reports from July 13-14, including those by The Hindu and India Today, indicated that the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-Independent) claimed that three of its top leaders were killed in a drone and missile strike on one of its camps in the Sagaing region of Myanmar. The group attributed the attack to Indian forces.
In response, the Indian Army stated that it was not aware of any such operation, distancing itself from the incident.
āThere are no inputs with the Indian Army of such an operation,ā Guwahati-based Defence PRO, Lt Col Mahendra Rawat, was quoted as saying by The Hindu. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also denied any involvement of Indian security agencies, emphasising that neither State nor Central forces had carried out any cross-border strike.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim of ULFA killing six Assam Rifles soldiers in a retaliatory attack is false.
