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Video of factory fire in Taiwan falsely shared as junta bombing in Myanmar border town

Video of factory fire in Taiwan falsely shared as junta bombing in Myanmar border town

By Grazia British

Culture

A video of a factory fire in southern Taiwan has surfaced in social media posts that falsely linked it to recent fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic rebels in Myanmar's northern Shan state. The clip corresponds to other footage of the fire at an industrial park in Tainan published by Taiwanese media.

"Ammunition storage explosion in Laukkai which has been targeted for the third time," read part of a Burmese-language Facebook post on July 19, 2024.

Myanmar's junta has bombarded Laukkai -- a township near the border with China that has been held by the rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army since January 2024 -- several times in July (archived link).

The latest strike on August 2 hit a hospital, killing 10 (archived link).

The accompanying 30-second video showed a massive column of black smoke rising into the sky from a fire in the distance.

A man's voice can be heard in the video saying: "Laukkai has been bombed in an airstrike. Ammunition storage has been destroyed."

Burmese-language sticker text repeats the claim.

<span>Screenshot of the false post taken on August 2, 2024 </span><span>Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (left) and the TikTok video (right)</span><span>Screenshot comparison of a frame from the TikTok video (left) and the Google Street View imagery (right)</span>

Originally published by yahoo.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Grazia British.

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Video of factory fire in Taiwan falsely shared as junta bombing in Myanmar border town | Grazia British