The images circulating on social media claiming to be from a past incident in 2014 are actually from the recent clashes that took place on February 18 at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET). The conflict erupted between Chhatra Dal and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement over the issue of banning student politics. Shortly after the incident, multiple images related to the clash were widely shared on Facebook, with claims that these were old pictures from 2014. A Facebook account under the name "Vet-Dr. Raihanul Nabi" posted a screenshot of these images, asserting that they were being falsely attributed to Chhatra Dal by a certain group and were, in fact, from 2014.

The circulated screenshot included images of individuals holding machetes and locally made weapons, with a timestamp showing January 3, 2014. Additionally, it contained a preview of four images, along with an indicator showing a total of 338 more images in the album.

A fact-check by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that these images were not from 2014 but were, in fact, taken on February 18, the day of the KUET clash. Following the incident, one of the individuals appearing in the images, a Jubo Dal leader, was expelled from the organization.

A reverse image search on the widely shared photos led to an article published on February 18 by the national daily Jaijaidin, titled "Who Are the Armed Students in the KUET Clash?" The report featured a collage of three images, which closely resembled the ones being shared with misleading claims. Furthermore, another report published today (February 19) by The Daily Campus, titled "KUET Attack: Jubo Dal Leader Expelled," included an image identical to one of those in the viral claims. The report identified the armed individual in the photo as Jubo Dal leader Mahbubur Rahman, who was subsequently expelled from the party due to his involvement in the incident. Another article published by The Daily Campus on February 18 also contained a relevant image, confirming that it was taken during the KUET clash. These findings confirm that the circulating images are not from 2014 but from the February 18 incident at KUET.

The confusion arose due to a misleading collage. The screenshot from the "Vet-Dr. Raihanul Nabi" Facebook account displayed four image previews, three of which matched the KUET attack photos. However, the same account showed a date of January 3, 2014, on the post containing these images. Upon further investigation, a review of this account’s posts from January 3, 2014, did not reveal any of the discussed images.

Instead, on February 18, the same Facebook account posted the images with the caption: "Welcome to uncle’s politics—strong condemnation and protest against the attack on KUET students." Additionally, the fourth image from the preview was found in another post made by the same user on February 9, captioned "MC College Reporters' Unity Training Workshop."

Rumor Scanner’s analysis determined that these images were originally part of the "Mobile Uploads" album of "Vet-Dr. Raihanul Nabi." At the time of this report, the album contained 341 images. When a Facebook album is shared, the platform sometimes displays the date of the oldest image in the album as the post’s date, leading to this misinterpretation. In this case, the oldest image in the album was dated January 3, 2014, which caused the confusion.

To verify this issue, Rumor Scanner conducted a test using its official Facebook page. When an album titled "Timeline Photos" was shared, Facebook displayed the date September 19, 2022, even though the first image in the album was actually uploaded on February 18, 2025 (yesterday). Additionally, clicking on the shared images revealed that they had indeed been posted on February 18, 2025.

Therefore, the claim that the images of the KUET attack are from 2014 is false.

Original News Source: https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/recent-photo-claimed-as-2014s-photo/139732