A Facebook page with more than 11 thousand Followers shared a post on Aug 25, 2022, captioned “The huge military Antonov cargo plane shot down by the Ethiopian Air force.”
By the time this article is published the post had more than 90 reactions and was shared more than 60 times.
However, HaqCheck inspected the image and rendered it False.
The press release by the Tigray Army’s military command on Aug 17, 2022, stated that “on August 15, 2022, the Ethiopian National Defense Force, which claims to have built an impregnable fortress in Western Tigray, bombarded Tigray Army forces around Dedebit for an hour with heavy artilleries and tanks.”
The spokesperson of TPLF Getachew Reda said that the Federal Government [Abiy’s administration] had opened an attack on the southern front of Tigray, and the Amhara special forces and Fano militias from Wollo also participated in the offensive. He also added that the Tigray defense forces are defending their territory.
Later, on Aug 24, 2022, Major general Tesfaye Ayalew said that the Ethiopian Air Force shot down an Airplane carrying weapons for TPLF.
It is not mentioned to whom the plane belongs except being referred to as “an airplane believed to be the property of historical enemies which are long been interested and working in weakening of Ethiopia and are supporting the TPLF”.
On the contrary, TPLF denied the claim that the Ethiopian Air Force shot down a plane.
HaqCheck assessed the image and found it on a website called C-130.net. The image is found in an article written about an Egyptian C-130 plane crash during training.
About 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Cairo, in the Fayoum region, the plane reportedly crashed down in Kawm Awshim.
According to Egyptian news media, Mohamed Sayed Ahmed, Brigadier Amr Abdo Rashwan, Majors Ahmed Ibrahim Muwafi, Ahmad Saeed Ali Mchale, Ahmed Fathi Ahmed Mehanna, and Assistant Mohamed Abdel Hakim Abdullah Zenati, all died in the accident.
Even though the government claimed that an airplane passing across the Ethiopian air space was shot down by the Ethiopian Air force, the image used by the Facebook page is wrong.
Therefore HaqCheck inspected the post and rendered it False.
