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  • 2022-10-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Photo of Al-Shabaab attack in Somalia falsely shared as taken in Kenya (en)
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  • A photo shared in multiple social media posts claims to show a well-drilling truck burnt by Al-Shabaab militants when they attacked a village in Kenya’s Wajir county. But this is false: the truck was destroyed by the militia group in Somalia, not Kenya. The image was shared on Twitter on October 1, 2022, and has since been retweeted more than 400 times. Screenshot showing the false tweet, taken on October 19, 2022 Al-Shabaab militants have attacked personnel of a company drilling borehole in Wajir, burnt the vehicle and killed civilians at the site. It's the first attack since William Ruto took over as president ( sic ), reads the tweet. The Somalia-based Islamist rebel group Al-Shabaab espouses a strict version of sharia or Islamic law and has waged a bloody insurrection against the Somali government for more than a decade. It remains a potent force in the country despite an African Union military operation against the group. Kenya has suffered major Al-Shabaab attacks over the past decade, starting with the killing of 67 people at a mall in Nairobi in 2013, followed by the killing of 148 people at Garissa University College near the Kenya-Somalia border in 2015, and that of 21 people at a Nairobi hotel in 2019. The claim was also shared here , here and here on Facebook. But the photo does not show a truck burnt during a terrorist attack on Kenyan soil. Somalia attack A reverse image search conducted by AFP Fact Check found that the image had been published by Somali news outlets. The image actually shows a well-drilling truck burnt by Al-Shabaab militants who attacked Gariley village in southern Somalia, killing 12 civilians in the process, on September 30, 2022. #AlShabab terrorists massacred 12 unarmed civilians, burned a water-well rig after attacking the drilling scene in Gariley village between Bardheere iyo Ceelwaaq towns of Gedo region, per local authorities. pic.twitter.com/isibR9nqpD — SONNA (@SONNALIVE) September 30, 2022 An article by the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported that the attackers killed civilians working with the drilling company and burnt their bodies. Other local Somali news outlets also reported on the attack ( here ). No recent attack in Kenya In Kenya, Wajir County Police Commander Daniel Toroitich confirmed the attack happened across the border in Somalia. Four Kenyans working with a water drilling company in Somalia were among the people killed in an Al-Shabaab attack in the country on September 30, 2022. Their bodies, which were retrieved by our soldiers, were brought here and preserved at the Wajir County Referral Hospital where they were collected by family members, Toroitich told AFP Fact Check. (en)
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