Fact-Check: This image unrelated to thirteen U.S. servicemen killed in Afghanistan

In mid-August this year, Taliban took control the whole Afghanistan amidst forces of the United States of America and its alliance were withdrawing from the country. Meanwhile, a bombing took place at Kabul International Airport on August 26, killing at least 13 military servicemen and dozen were injured.

After the bloodiest bombing, a photo was posted on social media, linking it to the U.S. military servicemen killed in the incident. The photo had been shared hundred times by Khmer-speaking social media users. After running Google Reverse Image, however, it is found out the post is misleading.

Social Media Claim

On August 28 in this year, a Facebook user posted a photo showing several coffins draped by the U.S. flag and left in an airplane. The social media user wrote a caption linking the photo to 13 U.S. military servicemen killed in a suicide bombing at Afghanisttan’s Kabul International Airport two days earlier.

The photo with such a caption had been shared more than 700 times by Khmer-speaking Facebook users along with a mixture of comments as well.

Below is a capture of the post with caption reads: “My condolence with American people who lost their 13 military servicemen in a suicide attack on August 25, 2021 at Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan RIP.”

Facebook Post | Archived Link

The Facebook user also shared his post to various groups of the social media; one of them is named ‘Sun Camp’, leading to many shares and comments.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia begins checking the fact of the photo by running Google Reverse Image, leading to find out the same photo and its original caption.

The photo is pooled in the U.S. National Archived & DVIDS. The photo caption is that 19 coffins draped by the U.S. flag were bodies of the American servicemen killed in a suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia’s Dhahran City in 1996.

Ashes of the U.S. military servicemen were transported through a flight to the U.S. Navy Base in Dover, Delaware, and waiting for an official funeral on June 27, 1996.

The photo was taken by the Defense Visual Information Center of the American Forces Information Service, the Department of Defense.

The 19 U.S. military service members were killed on June 25, 1996, in a suicide bombing on Khobar building in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. military personnel were stationed.

Other 500 U.S. military members were also injured in one of the bloodiest attacks in the American military history.

Khobar building was home to 2,000 U.S. military members who were assigned to station at King Abdulaziz Air Base in Saudi Arabia at the time.

The U.S. military servicemen were stationed there in order to oversee the no-fly zone which was designated on southern Iraq after the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

National Archive | Archived Link

The suicide attack at the Kabul International Airport on August 26, 2021, killed 13 U.S. military members. Their bodies also draped by the U.S. flag were transported through a special flight to Dover Air Force Base three days after the attack.

Los Angeles Times | Archived Link

សន្និដ្ឋាន

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found out the photo posted by the social media mentioned above is unrelated to the incident. The photo is not bodies of 13 U.S. military members killed in the suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport on August 26, 2021. The photo are about 19 U.S. military personnel who were killed in the terrorist bombing at the U.S. military base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in 1996.