Old image shared as TTP release Pakistan army soldiers

An image of army soldiers is viral on social media with users claiming that the picture is of the released soldiers, who were taken captive recently by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Image was shared by a verified X user with the caption ‘Photos of captured soldiers of Pakistan Army released by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). TTP killed & captured several Pak soldiers.

The image was also shared by another user from his verified X handle in the context of recent TTP attack on Pakistan Army.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the image is old.

To verify the claim, we conducted a reverse image search and found the viral image in featured with other images on defenceforumindia.com dated April 1, 2017.

During the search we found the same viral image on Facebook shared by a user in 2017 with a caption in Pashto language which roughly translates as ‘This morning, 11 Pakistani soldiers were captured by the Afghan Taliban and 11 Pakistani soldiers were captured by the police’.

Continuing our investigation, we found the same image on thebrorant.blogspot.com along with an article that ridicules Pakistan and its policies.

Hence, the original source of the image could not be found but we can certainly say the image is and not from the recent clash.