February 4, 2021

Does the image show Eritrean troops wounded during the ongoing conflict in Tigray?

HAQCHECKFact checking

HaqCheck has confirmed that the picture doesn't show Eritrean troops wounded in Tigray and rated it as FALSE

Avatar: Hagos Gebreamlak
By Hagos Gebreamlak

A fact-checker at HaqCheck, he has worked for Fortune as a reporter previously.

Does the image show Eritrean troops wounded during the ongoing conflict in Tigray?

On 01 February 2021 a facebook post by the name ለንቂጥ ዳዕሮዒራ ዘብሔረ አክሱም ሀገረ ትግራይ (a personal blog with 3,564 followers) shared the image below with the claim that 298 Eritrean soldiers were recently wounded  during the ongoing armed conflict in Tigray on 17 january 2021and were sent back to Eritrea, Barentu camp. However, HaqCheck has interrogated the post and confirmed that the picture doesn't show Eritrean troops wounded in Tigray and rated it as FALSE due to the usage of an inaccurate image.


Since 4 November 2020 there has been armed fighting between TPLF-led regional forces and Federal government-led forces in Tigray. There have also been claims that the Eritrean army has been involved in the ongoing military operation in Tigray supporting the Ethiopian federal government. Many, on various social media platforms have been claiming the TPLF-led forces are defeating Eritrean and Ethiopian armies.

In this context, the facebook post emerged claiming that 298 Eritrean soldiers were wounded in Tigray and sent back to Eritrea. However, a google reverse image search of the picture shows that the image doesn't support the claim. The image shows Eritrean troops captured during the 1998 Eritrean-Ethiopian border war and were photographed at an undisclosed camp for prisoners of war. It was first published on IOL, a digital media outlet on 9 October 2012 along with a news article that Ethiopia 75 Eritrean prisoners of war captured during the war. The original post related to the image can be accessed with the following link.

Granted, there have been unconfirmed allegations that the TPLF-led forces are triumphing against the Eritrean and Ethiopian forces in the Tigray Regional State. There is also a claim that Eritrean troops partook in the ongoing war, despite there being no concrete evidence . However, HaqCheck has interrogated the post and confirmed that the image doesn't show Eritrean soldiers wounded during the ongoing armed conflict in Tigray, therefore rating the post as FALSE due to inaccurate usage of the image.

Fact Checked by: Hagos Gebreamlak

Edited by: Bruck Negash Teame

The following article is part of HaqCheck, Addis Zeybe’s multilingual fact checking initiative, which is run by its R&D Department.
https://addiszeybe.com/featured/haqcheck/factchecking/does-the-image-show-eritrean-troops-wounded-during-the-ongoing-conflict-in-tigray
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