Fact-Check: Misleading claim alleging the Killings of two Kashmiri youths in Poonch goes viral. Here’s the Truth

Several Pak-based handles took to social media platform X(formerly Twitter) and alleged that Indian troops martyred two Kashmiri youths in Poonch raising concerns about the ongoing military operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Handle named Kashmir English posted an image and claimed: “Indian troops martyr two Kashmiri youth in Poonch Indian forces continue their state terrorism in occupied Jammu & Kashmir! Two Kashmiri youth were martyred in a false flag operation during a so-called search operation in Poonch’s Khari Karmara area near the LoC”

Another handle by the name Hello Pakistan shared a screenshot of the news and wrote: “The killing of two Kashmiri youth by Indian forces in Poonch district raises concerns about ongoing military operations in Jammu and Kashmir”

Furthermore, several pak handles made similar claims on X. The preview link can be seen here, here and here.

Fact-check

The DFRAC team investigated this claim and found it to be false.

A keyword search on Google in this regard led us to the latest reports by Hindustan Times, Deccan Herald & Greater Kashmir.

As per reports, two heavily armed terrorists affiliated with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed in a gunfight as Army troops scuttled a major infiltration attempt along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, officials said on Friday, Jan 31.

The reports further stated that the incident took place in the Khari Karmara area of the Poonch district on Thursday, Jan 30 and a massive search operation was underway when the last reports were received this afternoon.

Moreover, we found a tweet by White Knight Corps dated Jan 30 informing about detecting terrorist movements—and heavy firefight between militants and the army. The tweet stated: “Terrorist movements detected in Poonch sector along the LOC. Alert troops opened fire leading to a heavy exchange of fire. Operations are underway”.

Conclusion

It is evident from DFRAC’s fact-check that the viral claim alleging the killings of two Kashmiri youths has been misleadingly shared on X. Originally, the Indian Army neutralized two terrorists in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Analysis: Misleading