Fact Check: Old images linked to deadly Yemen airstrike that killed over 80

Several images claiming to be from Ground Zero are also being shared on social media.

At least 80 people, including children, were killed in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a prison in Yemen’s Saada on January 21. The Houthi rebels, who since 2014 are engaged in a war with the Yemen government, allies of Saudi Arabia, have released gruesome visuals from the site of the attack.

Several images claiming to be from Ground Zero are also being shared on social media. Among these are three images of children, injured and buried, who are said to be victims of the airstrike.

“Breaking: 2 more bodies have now been pulled out from the rubble, bringing the number of martyrs to 80, and search is still underway for survivors of the crime of aggression on prison in Saada,” the claim along with the images .

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the images to be misleading. None of the images shared with the post is from the Saada attack.

AFWA probe

This image shows a girl weeping in front of another child who seems to have passed away. A reverse search revealed that the picture has been in circulation for several years now. The name of one Ali Jadallah was mentioned in many of these posts. Following this clue, we found the Instagram account of Ali Jadallah an award-winning photographer covering Gaza.

Ali’s Instagram profile had a link to his Facebook page, where we found the above image uploaded on November 26, 2014. The Arabic caption with the image Google translates to, “I won the Al Sharjah Award for the best press photo 2014.”