Fake Death Rumours of an Army Soldier , after the July 13th clashes !

Below is our investigation to find out the accuracy of the viral posts which claimed that one of the SL army soldiers had lost his life, after being seriously attacked during the clashes between SL security forces and the protesters on 13^th July at Polduwa junction, a location nearby to the Sri Lanka parliament.

Social Media Posts

A Facebook post carrying the image of a SL Army soldier on what seemed to be a hospital stretcher was viral with strong sentiments for a soldier who purportedly had lost his life. Prayers wishing him to attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana were shared widely and these posts also praised the discipline of the soldier for not opening fire at the civilians, when they had attacked him, as seen below.

Facebook| Archived

Below is another post with the same narrative.

Facebook | Archived

Fact Check

As a result of the July 13th clashes between anti-government protestors and Sri Lankan security forces at the Polduwa junction, closer to one of the entrances to the Sri Lankan parliament , Sri Lankan security forces as well as protestors got injured and were hospitalized.

Army spokesman Brigadier Nilantha Premaratne said that two army officers were seriously injured during the clashes with the protestors. The army spokesman said that a group had brutally assaulted the two soldiers on their heads and faces with iron rods, until they had become unconscious. It was also mentioned that two T-56 firearms in their possession were stolen. Below is the full announcement

An announcement was also issued by the Police Media Division regarding the incident in Polduwa Junction on 13th July, which also said about the injuries to Army officials.

We then observed whether any of the mainstream media in Sri Lanka had reported the death of a soldier who got injured during the clashes with the protestors. Yet we could not find any news in this regard.

Therefore, we contacted the media unit of the SL Army headquarters and they stated that the news of a soldier's death is false and the two soldiers who got seriously injured are currently undergoing treatment at the Narahenpita Army Hospital.

Meanwhile, we noticed news reports of acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe visiting the two injured Army soldiers, who are receiving treatment at Army hospital, as seen below on 15th July.

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Conclusion:

According to our investigation, we were able to find out that the viral social media claims about the death of an Army soldier during the clash between protestors and SL security forces at Polduwa junction, on 13^th July, were false. The two soldiers who got wounded during the clashes are currently receiving treatments at the Army hospital, Colombo and are not in a critical condition.