Video of joint forces drill falsely shared as BNP-Army clash in Bangladesh
A video claiming to show a violent confrontation between supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the army in Cumilla district has gone viral on Facebook.
Posts shared on February 8 claimed the footage showed fighting in Debidwar, from where July uprising leader Hasnat Abdullah is contesting, leaving two people dead and more than 100 injured.
One version of the video had the caption: “Two killed, more than 100 injured in BNP-Army clash in #Hasnat Abdullah’s constituency.” The clip has been viewed more than 1 million times and shared at least 10,000 times, with similar claims appearing across multiple accounts (1, 2, 3).
However, the claim is false.
A reverse image search matched the footage to a 7:25-minute video published on February 8 by the daily Kaler Kantho, titled “Joint forces exercise for election security in Cumilla.”
A visual comparison shows the viral video contains the same scenes, individuals, and uniforms seen in the Kaler Kantho report, including personnel wearing red headcloths and members of the army and Border Guard Bangladesh.
Other Bangladeshi media outlets (1, 2, 3) also published footage of this exercise, showing the same locations, people, and attire.
The video, therefore, does not show a clash between BNP supporters and the army, but a joint security exercise conducted ahead of elections.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on February 11, 2026. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
