FALSE: This image isn’t of Puntland forces in the mountainous areas of Al-Miskaat and Galgala

The soldiers around the military trucks are from Galmudug State in Somalia

This Facebook post featuring an image of soldiers around a military truck, claiming they are Puntland forces in the mountainous areas of Al-Miskaat and Galgala is FALSE.

The post accompanying the picture reads, “The Puntland Defense Forces stationed in the Al-Miskaad and Galgala Mountains, who have been countering terrorist groups hiding in the area, have been forced to abandon their defensive positions due to lack of salaries and poor healthcare support. The troops have also faced severe hardship after their food supplies (rations) were cut off. This morning, these forces set up a roadblock in the Kalabeyr area of the Bari region, where they stopped a vehicle transporting khat to Bosaso city. During this action, they injured the vehicle’s driver, Mubarak Abdi Faras. Meanwhile, the Puntland Ministry of Finance has failed to pay the troops’ salaries and rations. The Puntland government has announced to the world that it is fighting the ISIS group. However, significant neglect is evident towards the Puntland Darawiish forces, except for the PMPF forces, which receive substantial funding from the UAE. Reports add that the UAE funds intended for these forces have not been used as intended.”

Puntland Mirror conducted a Google reverse image search to verify the image’s authenticity and found that the soldiers around the military trucks are from Galmudug State in Somalia, as reported here and here.

The image was also published here.

To further verify the claim, Puntland Mirror contacted Puntland Military Defence (PDF) and spoke to Colonel Barkhad Abdullahi Yousuf, who stated by phone that there are no Puntland soldiers in the mountainous areas of Al-Miskaat and Galgala who have withdrawn from their defensive positions due to unpaid salaries.

The Colonel added that this claim is false information disseminated by local citizen journalists.

Puntland Mirror examined a post featuring an image of soldiers around a military truck that claimed they were Puntland forces in the mountainous areas of Al-Miskaat and Galgala 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).