Video From Myanmar Falsely Shared as 'Kuki Terrorists' Using Drones in Manipur

This videos shows commandos from Myanmar using drone cameras and not people from the Kuki community.

A video showing a man in a black combat uniform holding a drone camera is being shared on the internet. The clip then shows drone footage of villages, farms, and forests is being shared on the internet.

What's the claim?: The claim states that this video is from Manipur and shows 'Kuki terrorists' navigating the Manipur police to attack them.

The state has seen a series of violent clashes since May, where over 90 people have died.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What's the truth?: This video showing the men in uniform are commandos from the Chinland Defense Force (CDF) Thantlang from Myanmar.

• However, the visuals of the bird's eye view showing the landscape are indeed from Manipur.

Also Read

Unrelated Videos From Myanmar Shared as 'Armed Kuki Terrorists' In Manipur

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and came across a YouTube video.

• This video was shared by an Australian news outlet, ABC News In-depth on 18 August 2022.

• The video was a documentary on Myanmar and rebel group, Chinland Defense Force (CDF).

• At 15:41 timestamp, the part seen in the viral part starts playing.

• We compared the viral video with the YouTube video and found similarities.

• The video continues and shows ABC reporter Matt Davis explaining CDF was formed in 2021 and young people were recruited.

• Further, the video shows a man, with a gun, standing besides a board which reads, "THANTLAND BATTALION, CAMP VUICHIP".

Where is the drone footage from?: Although the starting ten seconds from the viral video were from Myanmar showing CDF, the rest of the visuals from the drone were indeed from Manipur.

• On performing a relevant keyword search, we came across a 24 minutes video uploaded on YouTube.

• The video was shared by 'Lamka Talk', a news outlet based in Manipur on 29 May.

• The title of the video read, "Drone footage shows involvement of state police commandos in attacking Tribal villages in Manipur."

• We compared the visuals from the viral video to the YouTube video and found similarities.

• (Note: Swipe to see all of them.)

• We also reached out to C Lian Langel, who runs Lamka Talk who told us that the drone footage shows Kangvai, Changpikot area in Churachandpur district of Manipur.

Conclusion: Edited video merging clips from Myanmar and Manipur have gone viral to claim that 'Kuki terrorists' are using drone cameras in Manipur. 

Also Read

Fact-Check: Does This Video Show Kukis Attacking Security Personnel in Manipur?

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