FALSE: The photo isn’t of Somaliland soldiers killed by Amhara’s FANO in July 2024

The image has been online since 2016.

This X (formerly Twitter) post with an image claiming to show Somaliland soldiers allegedly killed by FANO – Ethiopia’s Amhara militia group h is FALSE.

The image shows several bodies of individuals in military regalia lying on the ground.

“BREAKING: #FANO Amhara has killed a large number of Secessionist Somalia-land Militia that was being trained by Abiy in order to make Somalia  unstable after the camps they were training  sorry  Somalia youth,” reads the post.

To confirm the photo’s credibility, Puntland Mirror performed a Google reverse image search and discovered that the image has been online since 2016.

It was initially published by Ethiopian Orama on 12 June 2016, Eritrea Digest on 19 June 2016, and by Som Tribune in October 2018.

Ethiopian Orama and Eritrean Digest used the image while covering a 2016 conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The image is credited to Sami Sallinen, a Finland photographer/video producer, who  lived and worked in Asmara for several years.

To further verify the claim, Puntland Mirror contacted Saed Habane, the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Information of Somaliland, who said that the report that Somaliland forces were killed in Amhara’s region in Ethiopia is fake news.

Puntland Mirror examined an X post with an image claiming to show Somaliland soldiers allegedly killed by FANO – Ethiopia’s Amhara militia group and found it to be FALSE.

This fact-check was produced by Puntland Mirror  under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).