Images of Tajik mother and her three daughters killed by Afghan Taliban in Balkh province

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and established that it is false.

To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the image of the dead family in the car.

HOW IT STARTED

On May 4, 2024, an X user, describing themselves as a Tajik human rights activist, posted an image of dead children, appearing to be a family, in a car.

The post’s caption said: “The Pashtun nationalist Taliban gunned down a Tajik mother and her three daughters in Balkh province.”

The post gained over 36,000 views.

Another X user posted the same image on the same day with the caption, “The Taliban terrorist group rained bullets on a lady and her three children in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif on charges of driving at a checkpoint.”

The post was viewed 18,400 times.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan team sought to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and because some users pointed out in the comments that the images were of an unrelated incident from Pakistan.

To investigate the claim, the iVerify Pakistan team ran the image of the family through a Google reverse image search.

The search yielded a video dated January 8, 2022, by a YouTube account “Top Stories”. The video was titled, “Whole family dead in car in Murree video goes viral”.

The video showed officials investigating a dead family in a car trapped amid heavy snowfall.

Notably, the visuals of the dead family matched the alleged images that were being posed as of a dead Tajik family.

By comparing the viral images of the mother and daughters with the girl in the passenger seat and the family members in the back from the video, the team found that they were the same as seen below.

A January 8, 2022, news report on the incident from Pakistani media outlet 24 News HD was titled, “ASI Naveed called cousin for help in last voice message in Murree snowstorm.”

It concerned a police officer and his family trapped in their vehicle during a snowstorm in Murree in January 2022.

The report said that the police official and his family died in their vehicle while waiting to be rescued.

JANUARY 22 MURREE SNOWSTORM

According to a Dawn.com report published on January 8, 2022, a list issued by Rescue 1122 said that 22 people died, including 10 children, in a snowstorm in Murree. The deceased include an assistant sub-inspector of the Islamabad police and seven members of his family.

The report said that traffic jams were exacerbated by heavy snowfall overnight, which resulted in road blockages. In some instances, the snowstorm and intense winds had also uprooted trees that had fallen on the roads and in one instance, on a couple of vehicles.

CONCLUSION

The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim regarding the images of a Tajik family killed by the Afghan Taliban is false.

The images are actually of a dead family in a snowstorm in Murree, Pakistan from January 2022.

Evidence and References

January 8, 2022, YouTube video:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240509093652/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioGFslFP8U

January 8, 2022, 24 News HD report:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240508093617/https://www.24newshd.tv/8-Jan-2022/asi-naveed-called-cousin-for-help-in-last-voice-message-in-murree-snowstorm