A Facebook page with over 11,450 followers posted claims on July 14 2021 that dead bodies of Amhara special forces had been taken to Gondar by Sino trucks, a type of vehicle widely used for construction purposes in Ethiopia.
The text written in Amharic reads: “What’s going on? 12 Sino Trucks loaded with dead bodies arrived in Gondar, earlier this morning. Our Militia, our special forces are dying…“.
HaqCheck looked into the post and has rated it as False.
The federal government has been battling the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since November 2020 after accusing it of attacking military bases in the restive region. Following three weeks of armed conflict, the federal government occupied the regional capital city, Mekelle.
During the battle, it was reported that TPLF officials had been captured and killed by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF). However, the international community also accused the Federal government, ENDF, Amhara militia, and Eritrean troops of crimes against humanity including massacres and rapes.
After eight months of the war, it was reported that the Ethiopian government had made the decision to withdraw and declare a ceasefire in Tigray. After being dislodged by Ethiopia’s military, the former leaders of the region claimed to have regained control on 28 June 2021 over the regional capital.
HaqCheck looked into the image posted by the page. A reverse image search of the image shows that the image was first posted on 23 Dec 2019, by Loozap Ethiopia, an online platform for selling and buying products. The image was shared to advertise the sale of a two million Birr Sino truck. Also, the image used by the page is manipulated and cropped from the original one.
Additionally, HaqCheck observed that up until the time this article was published there had been no official report of related incidents from neither the Amhara national regional government nor the TPLF.
Despite the ongoing conflict in the areas bordering the Amhara and Tigray region, HaqCheck has confirmed that the image doesn’t show a truck full of dead bodies, rendering the post False due to the inaccuracy of the image.
