Old video from Indonesia shared as Kukis training in Manipur

By: Vivek J
September 27 2023

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Screenshot of the viral claim (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim? 

A the ongoing ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities that first broke out in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur this May 2023, has led to many images and videos being misattributed to the violence.  About 181 people have been killed, hundreds injured, and thousands displaced from their homes.

A video shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday garnered over 6,000 views and over a hundred reposts at the time of writing this story. Its caption read, “99,9% People outside Manipur don't know Modi gov allow COOKIES to run these types of TRAINING CENTER in Manipur. Modi gov must clarify to people of India , What's going on in the name of PEACE_TREATY with COOKIEs ? Whatever lies you spread & try to cheat Hindus, will fail.” 

The post implied that the video showed Kukis, one of the communities involved in the violent clashes in the state, training with firearms. Archives of such posts on X and Facebook can be seen here and here. 

Screenshot of the X post purporting to show members of the Kuki community in Manipur running a weapons training camp. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, this video is old and unrelated to the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki tribes in Manipur. 

What did we find?

We conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the video and found that the same video was shared on YouTube in February 2021, almost a year before the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur in May this year. The video uploaded by a user, “Asep Purnavan,” was titled “Dopper! Does anyone dare to be bombarded with AK47 fire???#dopper #command #training #guts's test #war.” However, it did not state when or where this video was from. 

Screenshot of the video shared on YouTube in February 2021. (Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

We also came across an article in the Indonesian language with screenshots of the same video dated October 26, 2020. The article’s title, when translated to English, read: “Hard! Viral video of TNI members practicing crawling while being shot at." The report noted that the video shows Indonesian forces training. 

Taking a cue from this report, we found another YouTube video by Tribun Timur, an Indonesian news network, containing nearly the same visuals. The description of this video explains that ‘Dopper’ is one of the brutal training exercises conducted by the Indonesian army, also known as Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI).

Comparison of the screenshots from the viral video and the video shared on YouTube by Tribun Timur. (Source: X (L)/YouTube(R)/Screenshots/)

We also found several similar videos of the Indonesian forces performing the ‘Dopper’ training exercise online. 

Screenshots of similar videos showing the Indonesian forces performing the ‘dopper’ training exercise. (Source: YouTube/Screenshots)

While we could not verify when the viral video was filmed, it has been online since October 2020. It reportedly shows firearms training in the Indonesian military. Logically Facts has previously debunked several pieces of misinformation linked to the ethnic conflict in Manipur. You can read them here and here. 

The verdict

The video does not show members of the Kuki community in Manipur conducting firearms training. This video is old, dates back to at least October 2020, and is reportedly from Indonesia. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.