PARTLY FALSE: This image is unrelated to an Al-Shabab attack on an army base in central Somalia
The photo was captured in Mogadishu in 2017.
This digital card shared on X (formerly Twitter) by The Horn Eye with an image claiming to show an attack on an African Union (AU) base in central Somalia in June 2024 is PARTLY FALSE.
The claim states that the attack occurred during a handover process to the Somali National Army (SNA).
The text accompanying the image reads in part “Al-Shabaab Disrupts Somalia Takeover with Deadly Blast. Militant group targets AU base handover, raising concerns over Somalia’s security future…”
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Al-Shabab attacked a security checkpoint near the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) Djibouti National Defence Forces (DNDF) base in Beledweyne, Hiiraan region, as it was being transferred to Somalia government control, as seen here, here, and here.
On 30 June 2024, the ATMIS handed over the Orhasan Forward Operating Base (FOB) to the Somali National Armed Forces (SNAF) in Beledweyne. The DNDF has been stationed at the base since 2012, providing security for Beledweyne Airport and protecting the local community from Al-Shabab attacks.
But, is the image authentic?
PesaCheck performed a reverse image search and located the original image. The image is about the twin truck bombings in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on 14 October 2017, which killed over 500 people and wounded almost 1,000.
This photo is credited to AFP’s photographer Mohamed Abdiwahab. The image description reads: “A Somali man reacted after an 14 October 2017 bombing in Mogadishu.”
However, this claim coincided with ATMIS handing over its fifth Forward Operating Base (FOB) to the Somalia government as part of the Phase Three drawdown. ATMIS is scheduled to conclude operations and exit Somalia by the end of December 2024.
PesaCheck looked into a digital card shared on X with an image claiming to show an attack on an AU base during the handover to the Somali government in June 2024 and found it to be PARTLY FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Hassan Istiila and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya and chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
