A video of different stunts performed by men in uniform is being shared on Facebook claiming to be that of the Indian army. An audio of a woman slamming Pakistan can also be heard throughout the video. The video has received over 2.5 lakh shares on Facebook.
However, BOOM's fact check revealed that it is an edited video which has used clips of Indonesian and Russian armed forces' military drills as that of the Indian army.
The video was recently shared by a Facebook page named JAY MODIRAJ ("जय मोदीराज") with the caption "भारतीय सेना दुनिया जिसे सलाम करे - I LOVE INDIAN ARMY". This translates to "India army - the one saluted by the world". The post received around 800 shares.
However while searching on Facebook, BOOM found the same video posted five months back, by another page भारतीय नवनिर्माण सेना. This post received over 2.5 lakh shares.
Click here for the post
Click here for the post
Here is how BOOM dissected the video to trace the facts about each clip. INVID, a video verification toolkit was used to do a frame-by-frame analysis. BOOM did reverse image searches on search engines Google and Yandex to find the sources of the videos.
Clip 1 ( counter up to 0:30) from Indonesia
The first stunt clip of shirtless men with war painted faces breaking flaming bricks and commandos using their mouths to behead snakes is from Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a counter terrorism demonstration by the Indonesian special forces - the Kopassus, when the United States Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis visited the country.
We traced the video to a report by VOA (Voice of America) Cambodia on January 24, 2018. The article also has an extended video of the military drill. Click here to read the story. VOA is a US government funded news agency.
Below is the original video.
Clip 2 (Counter 0:30 to 1:00) - Inconclusive
The next clip is that of a missile firing in a desolate location. Men in army uniform are seen overseeing the firing. However, we could not find a credible source which could give the exact location of the video. Reverse image searches of the frames showed YouTube videos claiming it to be the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher while few others with captions in Somali language.
Clip 3 (Counter 1:00 to 1:22) &Clip 5 ( Counter 1:36 to 1:56) - from Russia
In Clips 3 and 5, we can see commandos in black uniform doing helicopter stunts, breaking into car wind shields and other combat stunts. These clips have the watermark "THRUSSIAVIDEO" on the upper left hand corner.
A Google search for THRUSSIAVIDEO shows a Youtube channel named This is Russia. The channel has a single video captioned Russian spetsnaz training from which the clip in the post has been taken from. Spetsnaz is a term used for special forces in Russia and other post-Soviet states.
We spliced the Youtube video using INVID and performed Reverse Image searches.
The image below has полиция written on body of the car. BOOM found that 'police' is полиция in Russian.
BOOM found the tanker A6 10 seen in clip 5 on a Russian website Kracik.ru along with other images of the demonstration.
A translation of the article said the images were of the event 'Interpolitech' in 2015 at Krasnoarsmeysk, a town in Russia. The annual event is an exhibition of the state military equipment and includes demonstration by the special forces. (Click here to visit the article). Another website Voldema.livejournal also had images of the event, including one of the tanker A6 10. Read more about Interpolitex here.
Clip 4 (Counter 1:22 to 1:36) - from India
This is the only clip which we could source to India. This stunt performance at a ground involves commandos jumping from a jeep onto a racing bus.
We identified few words in the video such as 'सर्वत्र' (Sarvatra) and 'National Security Guard' (NSG). The NSG is an Indian special force under the Ministry of Home affairs and its motto is Sarvatra Sarvottam Suraksha. (Click here to visit the NSG website. ) The NSG headquarters is in New Delhi.
BOOM also found images of the same ground on the NSG website in which 'National Security Guard' and 'सर्वत्र सर्वोत्तम सुरक्षा ' are clearly visible.
