Prothom Alo fact check
Old images from Afghanistan circulated as photos of clash outside Noakhali mosque
Several images have recently gone viral on social media, accompanied by claims such as: “This is not Palestine; this is a reflection of the prayer of our BNP and Jamaat brothers at a mosque in Noakhali Sadar Upazila. This is our new Bangladesh.”
The four photos in question depict scenes of vandalism inside a mosque with broken furniture, shattered fixtures, and damage to walls.
Many social media users have been sharing those images, falsely linking them to the recent clash in Noakhali.
However, a reverse image search shows that none of these images are connected to the recent events in Noakhali.
Link: Here
On 18 October, a clash broke out between activists of the Jubo Dal and the Islami Chhatra Shibir in front of the Kashimbazar Jame Mosque at Noakhali Sadar Upazila’s Nayajpur Union.
Following that incident, these four old images have been misleadingly circulated on social media, purporting to show the aftermath of the Noakhali clash.
In reality, at least one of these photos has been proven to originate from an incident in Afghanistan.
Photo 1:
This image was published by Deutsche Welle (DW) on 8 October 2021. It shows the aftermath of a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, in which at least 50 people were killed.
Link here.
Photo 2:
The second image appeared in a report by The Daily Star on 20 September 2020. It depicts the aftermath of a gas explosion at the Baitus Salat Jame Mosque in Narayanganj, Bangladesh.
Link here.
Photo 3:
Another photo from the same Narayanganj explosion was published by the Daily Jugantor on 6 September 2020. This, too, is now being falsely circulated as a photo of the Noakhali incident.
Link here.
Photo 4:
The Daily Ittefaq published this fourth image on 15 September 2020, showing the interior of the Baitus Salat Mosque in Narayanganj following the explosion.
Link here.
Reports from multiple Bangladeshi media outlets confirm that some parts of the Kashimbazar Jame Mosque were indeed damaged during the recent clash between Jubo Dal and Chhatra Shibir in Noakhali’s Nayajpur Union. However, the verified photographs of that mosque do not match any of the images being shared online.
That means, the four photos being circulated on social media as images of the “attack on a mosque in Noakhali” are not from Noakhali at all.
They are old and unrelated, with some originating from Afghanistan and others from previous incidents in Narayanganj, Bangladesh.
These claims are therefore false and misleading.