Not the Mali siege: Old images being shared on social media

As news about a siege at a hotel in Mali spreads, images related to the incident are being circulated on social media. In many cases the images are genuine - but in some they are not.

One of the pictures being shared on Twitter shows two security officials, one wearing a light blue security vest and a white helmet. But the picture is more than eight months old, and featured in numerous news articles after five people were killed in a gun attack on a restaurant in Bamako on the 7 March:

Image copyright Reuters

The twitter account First Draft has highlighted this with a tweet: "These old images are still being shared about today's #BamakoAttack in #Mali".

Image copyright First Draft

Another image showing two soldiers holding firearms has been retweeted dozens of times after the Twitter account Mali Actu attached it to an update about the number of hostages at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The image has also been used by several news outlets:

Image copyright Getty Images

This picture featured in news articles dating back to 18 August 2015 following violence in northern Mali where 20 separatists were killed by pro-government militia.

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