2016 Hurriyah car bombing hoax
Hurriyah, Baghdad, Iraq
| File:2016 Hurriyah car bombing.jpg | |
| Date | 30 October 2016 |
|---|---|
| Location | Hurriyah, Baghdad, Iraq |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured (non-fatal) | 0 |
| Description | A real bomb in the Hurriyah area of Baghdad reported as having killed people by commercially-controlled media but exposed as a hoax after CCTV footage appeared online. |
The 2016 Hurriyah car bombing hoax was a real bomb in the Hurriyah area of Baghdad. It was reported as having killed people by commercially-controlled media, but a CCTV recording that was later released showed that it killed no one, although people quickly arrived to behave as victims.
Reporting
On 30 October 2016, Reuters[1] published a report of a car bomb in that killed "at least 8 people and wounded more than 30 others", which was picked up by the New York Times[2] and other outlets. The New York Times report that "Iraqi police say a parked car bomb has exploded in Baghdad's northwestern neighborhood of Hurriyah, killing at least 10 and wounding 34."[3]
The Daily Mail reported on the 31st October 2016, that "a parked car bomb — hit a popular fruit and vegetable market near a school in the northwestern Hurriyah area, killing at least 10 people and wounding 34. IS claimed responsibility for the attack".[4]
CCTV footage
The next evening a video was published which appears to be a hand held camera recording of CCTV footage of a bomb. This shows a man walking away from an empty, wrecked car and getting into a white truck, which drives away. A few seconds later the bomb explodes, and a few seconds later about a dozen men run to the scene and lay on the road apparently pretending to have been victims of the car bomb. A van then arrives, men get out and carry the "victims" into the it, as if they had been injured by the blast.
Exposure
Bellingcat reported on it on 4 November, after the video was released.[5]
Cover up
The New York Times had removed their reporting of the incident by 11 December 2017.[6]
References
- ↑ http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-iraq-blast-idUKKBN12U0KE
- ↑ http://archive.is/GrUjw
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20161102163258/https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/30/world/middleeast/ap-ml-iraq-the-latest.html
- ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3888776/In-dawn-assault-Iraqi-special-forces-near-Mosul-east.html
- ↑ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/11/04/remarkable-case-iraqi-car-bomb/
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20170801000000*/https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/30/world/middleeast/ap-ml-iraq-the-latest.html