A Facebook page with more than 46 thousand followers shared an image on Aug 9, 2023, claiming that the picture shows an Ethiopian military tank destroyed by Fano militia groups in the ongoing armed conflict in the Amhara regional state.
The post added that Ethiopian troops and their tanks were routed in Motta, East Gojjam zone of the Amhara region.
The Facebook post was viral on the platform and was shared 29 times by the time this article was published.
Haqcheck inspected the image and confirmed that the picture doesn’t support the claim. As a result, the claim was rated False.
On April 6, 2023, the Ethiopian federal government announced that it had decided to disarm regional special police forces. The government started to disband the regional paramilitary forces and has given the troops three choices to join: the military, regional police forces, or the federal police force.
Soon after this decision, instability stormed the Amhara regional state. There were widespread public protests opposing the decision of the federal government to dissolve regional special police forces.
Armed confrontations and clashes have taken place in the Amhara region. Armed conflict loomed the regional state.
The Fano militants took control of many areas including major cities in the region.
The federal government declared a state of emergency after the Amhara regional government asked for help from the government.
Reports indicate that many people have been killed in the conflict in the Amhara region.
A recent news report shows that 26 people were killed in a drone attack in the town of Finote Selam, in the West Gojam Zone of the region.
In this context, a Facebook post came out sharing an image with a claim that Fano militia groups destroyed Ethiopian army troops including tanks.
However, HaqCheck investigated the claim and found that the image doesn’t support the claim. The original image was found previously published on X (Twitter) on Aug 8, 2022, with a caption that the Russian army destroyed Ukrainian artillery vehicles in a recent battle.
Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the Facebook post False due to its usage of an inaccurate image.
