Video of burning Indonesia compound sparks false claims in Bangladesh

As relations between New Delhi and Dhaka remain strained following the ouster of Bangladesh’s autocratic former leader Sheikh Hasina, social media users in the Muslim-majority nation have shared a video they falsely claim shows a mosque set on fire in neighbouring India. The clip depicts a burning compound in Indonesia. 

“Fire is raging at mosques across India. Oh Allah please save the world’s Muslims,” the Facebook post’s Bengali-language caption reads.

It shares an 18-second video showing a building on fire, and has been viewed thousands of times since it was uploaded on December 22, 2024.

The post surfaced after Hindu activists attempted to storm a Bangladeshi consulate during a protest in Agartala, a small Indian city not far from the two countries’ shared border (archived link).

Relations between the two countries have been frayed by the student-led uprising in August that toppled Bangladesh’s autocratic former leader Sheikh Hasina, who is now residing in India. 

Public sentiment in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million continues to be stacked against their Hindu-majority neighbour, which was Hasina’s main international patron during her iron-fisted, 15-year rule. 

The video was shared elsewhere on Facebook along with the false claim.

But the building in the video is in fact a mosque in Indonesia and there have been no official reports of mosques burned in India.

A Google reverse image search with keyframes of the clip found a longer video showing the similar scene in an Instagram post published on December 8, 2024 (archived link).

The Indonesian-language caption of the post reads, “Luwuk Banggai Central Market Complex fire”.

Further keyword search led to similar clips published by Indonesian media organisation KompasTV and its bureau in the province of Central Sulawesi, where the market is located (archived links here and here). 

KompasTV reported a major fire hit Luwuk Central Market on December 8, 2024, which spread quickly and destroyed a nearby mosque and more than a hundred booths and stalls around it.

Police said preliminary probe shows the fire was likely caused by short circuit (archived link). 

Google Maps Street View imagery corresponded to the scene in the false post (archived link).

AFP has debunked other false claims related to the unrests in Bangladesh.