This footage of children being trained to shoot rifles is from Afghanistan, not India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 21, 2022
A video through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Muslim children are being trained to shoot with rifles in Madrasas in India. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of children being trained to shoot rifles in Madrasas in India.
Fact: The video is taken from a documentary shot by Al Jazeera about military training given to children in Afghanistan by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). It is not from a Madrasa in India. This 2015 documentary ‘ISIL and the Taliban’ was about the emerging influence of ISIL and its battle for supremacy against Taliban in Afghanistan. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The logo of Al Jazeera can be seen in the bottom left of the video; and at the near end of the video, it can be heard that the visuals are from Afghanistan.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found on Al Jazeera website. From 45:53 timeframe, the video had been clipped and shared as a viral video. According to the website, the video is a documentary titled, ‘ISIL and the Taliban’, which showcases the visuals of the growing influence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq, and Afghanistan. The visuals part of the viral video were from a village in Afghanistan where children were taught to shoot rifles by ISIL to gain control in Afghanistan, and battle for supremacy against the Taliban there. This was a documentary by Al Jazeera and Frontline from 2015.
It had been reported in 2015 that ISIL fighters teach children as young as three about Jihad. The children in Afghanistan are given training to shoot rifles. Due to widespread poverty and the government’s limited reach, the children in most places are recruited by terrorists and are used as Spies and Suicide bombers.
Madrasas are traditional schools in Islam that, according to an India Today report, cater to nearly 3 million children in India. “Some go to madrasas out of choice, and some, because they don’t have any.
To sum it up, this footage of children being trained to shoot rifles is from Afghanistan, not India.