Video shows militants abducting Malian soldiers, not Nigerian troops
'Sorosoke!!! Shocking clip of some bandits boldly loading men of the Nigerian army on bikes after raiding their camp,' reads the caption of an Instagram post circulating in Nigeria since June 7, 2025. The term 'bandits' in Nigeria refers to organised criminal gangs.
Image
Screenshot showing the false post, taken June 16, 2025
'Sorosoke' is a Yoruba expression meaning 'speak up'. It became a popular slogan during Nigeria's 2020 protests against police brutality (archived here).
Liked more than 2,000 times, the video shows men in military uniform being forced onto motorcycles by gunmen wearing turbans.
Comments below the post questioned the identity of the captured soldiers.
'This is chad army not Nigerian army (sic),' wrote one user, while another said the incident happened in 'Burkina Faso, that's where you can get those types of bikes'.
The video was published by an account called 'Sorosoke Gossip' which posts lifestyle content and general news about Nigeria.
However, the video does not show Nigerian soldiers being abducted by bandits.
Clip from Mali
At the 0'54' mark in the one-minute clip, AFP Fact Check noticed a Malian military patch stitched to the sleeve of one of the abducted soldiers.
The visible part of the logo reads 'FAMa', an acronym for Forces Armees Maliennes, or the Malian army.
Image
Comparison of the Malian armed forces logo as it appeared in an AFP photo (left) and on the sleeve of an abducted soldier in the video
Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video, we were led to a June 8, 2025, X post by Brant Philip, a terrorism researcher focusing on West Africa and the Middle East.
In it, he described how the Al-Qaeda-backed Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) fighters killed scores of Malian soldiers in the Boulkessi military camp near the Burkina Faso border on June 1, 2025.
AFP had reported on the incident, saying the Malian army said it lost at least 30 soldiers but security sources and a local official said they believed the death toll to be at least 60 (archived here).
One of the videos in Philip's posts shows 30 seconds of the clip in the false post, with the media logo of the JNIM at the top right corner (archived here).
JNIM then displays the loot and the prisoners captured, 8 days later their fate is still unknown, JNIM could keep them for a prisoner swap in the future 5/5 pic.twitter.com/KWbJeO86ly — Brant (@brantphilip1978) June 8, 2025
Nigerian army spokesperson Onyechi Anele also told AFP Fact Check that the video in the claim 'does not involve Nigerian troops'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Male victim breaks 'suffocating' silence on Kosovo war rapes
The father-of-three was raped by a Serbian policeman during the bloody conflict between Albanian guerillas and Serbian armed forces in 1998 and 1999 that eventually saw Kosovo break away from Belgrade. Officials estimate Serbian forces raped up to 20,000 women during the war in which 13,000 people -- mostly ethnic Albanian civilians -- died. Human Rights Watch said Albanian fighters also raped Serbian, Albanian and Roma women in a 2000 report documenting widespread abuse by the combatants. But the precise number is buried by "a deeply entrenched social stigma, which still overshadows wartime rapes", said Bekim Blakaj of Kosovo's Humanitarian Law Center. Nishori told AFP that he hopes his own "difficult" journey -- which at times left him suicidal -- will help others find the strength to cast a light into the darkest corners of the war's atrocities. The 48-year-old said he would not have been able to come forward without his family's support. "It has given me strength. It has played a very, very big role," he said. 'I walked and cried at night' But he knows that the war, which only ended when NATO bombed the Serbian forces into submission, has left many more struggling alone. "I was suffocating. I would leave the house at night. I would feel like screaming. I would walk and cry," he told AFP. The Kosovo government acknowledged the suffering of the victims of wartime rapes by paying them a pension of 270 euros ($313) a month. But 11 years after it was set up, only a few hundred women get the payment. Nishori will be the first man to receive it. Activists say many survivors will never come forward due to the shame attached to rape in Albanian society. "Rape is perceived by our society more as a violation of family honour," said Veprore Shehu from Medica Kosova, which has given psychological support to some 600 female survivors. Nishori's nightmare began when he was pulled from a refugee column in September 1998. He was taken for interrogation to a police station in Drenas -- about 23 kilometres (14 miles) west of Pristina. "When it was my turn to be interrogated, around midnight, two policemen took me to the toilet, where one of them raped me," he said, taking deep breaths as he slowly recounted his ordeal. "When another policeman wanted to do the same, a third policeman came, and perhaps because of my screams, snatched me away from them and returned me to a cell." 'Weapon of war' Blakaj said the vast majority of sexual abuse was perpetrated by Serbian forces on ethnic Albanian women. By the end of the conflict, it had become "a weapon of war" used to create terror among civilians, he said. "Rape by police, paramilitaries and armed forces became widespread and almost routine," a 2017 Amnesty International report into the war concluded. A Serbian army deserter quoted in the report described sexual violence as "normal like taking a shower and having breakfast". On Tuesday, a Pristina court sentenced a Kosovo Serb to 15 years prison for rape during the conflict after a closed trial. It is just the second prosecution for rape during the Kosovo war, a mark of how slow the road to justice has been for victims of crimes now decades old. When Nishori finally revealed his abuse to his family, his oldest daughter, Flutura, urged him to go public. "Dad's story needed to be revealed to show that it wasn't just women who were victims of sexual violence, but men too," the 23-year-old theatre student said. "Nothing has changed in the family since the secret was revealed," she told AFP.
AFP
5 hours ago
- AFP
Video shows militants abducting Malian soldiers, not Nigerian troops
'Sorosoke!!! Shocking clip of some bandits boldly loading men of the Nigerian army on bikes after raiding their camp,' reads the caption of an Instagram post circulating in Nigeria since June 7, 2025. The term 'bandits' in Nigeria refers to organised criminal gangs. Image Screenshot showing the false post, taken June 16, 2025 'Sorosoke' is a Yoruba expression meaning 'speak up'. It became a popular slogan during Nigeria's 2020 protests against police brutality (archived here). Liked more than 2,000 times, the video shows men in military uniform being forced onto motorcycles by gunmen wearing turbans. Comments below the post questioned the identity of the captured soldiers. 'This is chad army not Nigerian army (sic),' wrote one user, while another said the incident happened in 'Burkina Faso, that's where you can get those types of bikes'. The video was published by an account called 'Sorosoke Gossip' which posts lifestyle content and general news about Nigeria. However, the video does not show Nigerian soldiers being abducted by bandits. Clip from Mali At the 0'54' mark in the one-minute clip, AFP Fact Check noticed a Malian military patch stitched to the sleeve of one of the abducted soldiers. The visible part of the logo reads 'FAMa', an acronym for Forces Armees Maliennes, or the Malian army. Image Comparison of the Malian armed forces logo as it appeared in an AFP photo (left) and on the sleeve of an abducted soldier in the video Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video, we were led to a June 8, 2025, X post by Brant Philip, a terrorism researcher focusing on West Africa and the Middle East. In it, he described how the Al-Qaeda-backed Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) fighters killed scores of Malian soldiers in the Boulkessi military camp near the Burkina Faso border on June 1, 2025. AFP had reported on the incident, saying the Malian army said it lost at least 30 soldiers but security sources and a local official said they believed the death toll to be at least 60 (archived here). One of the videos in Philip's posts shows 30 seconds of the clip in the false post, with the media logo of the JNIM at the top right corner (archived here). JNIM then displays the loot and the prisoners captured, 8 days later their fate is still unknown, JNIM could keep them for a prisoner swap in the future 5/5 — Brant (@brantphilip1978) June 8, 2025 Nigerian army spokesperson Onyechi Anele also told AFP Fact Check that the video in the claim 'does not involve Nigerian troops'.
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
Mali junta takes control of Canadian-owned Barrick Gold mine amid tax dispute
A judge in Mali on Monday ordered Barrick Gold's Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex to be placed under provisional administration for six months in an ongoing dispute between the Canadian mining company and the West African nation's military government over unpaid taxes. Zoumana Makadji, an accountant and a former Malian minister of health has been appointed as the company's provisional administrator within 15 days, Judge Issa Aguibou Diallo said in a statement to Barrick's lawyers. Barrick is Africa's largest gold producer. The Loulo-Gounkoto complex and its Kibali mine – located in Congo – rank among the top 10 gold mines globally, according to the company's website. Barrick Gold has been in conflict with Mali's military rulers over alleged unpaid taxes and unfair contracts with past governments. The dispute culminated in an arrest warrant in December for Barrick CEO Mark Bristow and the company's offer to pay $370 million to the government. 'While Barrick's subsidiaries remain the legal owners of the mine, operational control has been transferred to an external administrator,' Barrick said in a statement on its website following the ruling. 'National economic interests' A source representing the Mali government told AFP that the ruling 'protects national economic interests' and avoids 'the sudden closure of the mine in the absence of a revised agreement'. In December, Barrick submitted a request for arbitration to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes to address disagreements with Mali concerning the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, where the mines are located. Despite this, the government took a series of escalatory measures, including the arrest of Barrick Gold employees, who remain detained, and the suspension of gold exports. Barrick, which has been present in Mali for three decades, emphasized that the arbitration process was still ongoing and reaffirmed its commitment to 'engaging with the government of Mali, in parallel, to identify a constructive, mutually acceptable solution.' Detained staff 'used as leverage' The company's statement on Monday added: 'The ongoing detention of (our) employees – who remain unjustly imprisoned and used as leverage in this process – is deeply concerning and inconsistent with the trust, transparency and accountability required for a genuine long-term partnership. 'To date, no credible rationale has been presented to justify this detention and the Government's position, and the Government's ever-increasing demands have lacked both factual and legal foundation.' Mali is one of Africa's leading gold producers, but it has struggled for years with jihadi violence and high levels of poverty and hunger. The military seized power in 2020, and the government has placed foreign mining companies under growing pressure as it seeks to shore up revenues. In November, the CEO of Australian company Resolute Mining and two employees were arrested in Bamako. They were released after the company paid $80 million to Malian authorities to resolve a tax dispute and promised to pay a further $80 million in the coming months.
