The BBC has used a series of GIFs, videos, and images to break down its investigation into a video of two women and two children being shot by soldiers.
The clip, which appeared on social media in July, quickly went viral and sparked outrage and speculation. In a detailed Twitter thread posted on Monday, BBC News Africa explained how journalists used a combination of sources, geographical clues, and online detective work to establish where the footage was filmed, when the killings took place, and who was involved.
Here’s the Twitter thread, in full.
THREAD
In July 2018, a horrifying video began to circulate on social media.
2 women & 2 young children are led away by a group of soldiers. They are blindfolded, forced to the ground, and shot 22 times. #BBCAfricaEye investigated this atrocity. This is what we found… pic.twitter.com/oFEYnTLT6z
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
In July, the Cameroonian govt dismissed the allegations as “Fake News.”
They claimed the guns were not those carried by the Cameroonian military.
They said the camouflage pattern was not used in the Far North.
They asked why the soldiers were not wearing full combat gear. pic.twitter.com/4peZmjISCY
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
So we took a closer look at the video…and found clues that prove the government was wrong.
We’ll start with the location. Where did this happen?
The first 40 seconds of the video capture a mountain range with a distinctive profile pic.twitter.com/Eb70XuGL8I
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
It places the scene on a dirt road outside a town called Zelevet, in the Far North of Cameroon, close to the border with Nigeria.
This is the region where Cameroonian soldiers are fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram. pic.twitter.com/9tmS8hPie3
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
Once we had the general location, we looked at other details in the film – tracks, buildings, trees – and matched them precisely to features visible on satellite imagery. pic.twitter.com/IzKuyKzao8
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
When did this happen?
Again, the video contains clues.
This building is visible in the video. But satellite imagery reveals that, back in November 2014, the walls around it had not yet been built.
The killing happened after November 2014. pic.twitter.com/XODYqL5LRY
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The video also shows this building. Satellite images show us that, by February 2016, it had been demolished.
The killings happened before February 2016. pic.twitter.com/EdBqLQHStE
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
We know that the murders took place in the hot, dry season, because this footpath – just visible in the video – only appears on the satellite imagery between January and April.
That makes it probable that we’re looking at early 2015 pic.twitter.com/Uotw9w25mY
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
Notice that the soldiers, like moving sundials, cast shadows on the track.
A simple formula tells us the angle and direction of the sun.
This corroborates our conclusion on the date, and narrows the timeframe further: the killings happened between March 20 and April 5th 2015 pic.twitter.com/KC8HEvKFuS
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
We know where. We know when.
But who are the men who killed these women and children?
We’ll start by establishing that these are members of the Cameroonian military. pic.twitter.com/SqyL9yOPQf
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The government’s July statement claimed that the guns seen in the video are not those used by Cameroonian troops.
But this is a Serbian-made Zastava M21. It’s rare in sub-Saharan Africa, but it *is* used by some divisions of the Cameroonian army. pic.twitter.com/vZ6xdwpC5O
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The govt also claimed that Cameroonian soldiers in the Far North wear pale, desert-style fatigues, not the darker, forest-style camouflage seen in the video.
But we found these images on Facebook – tagged to Zelevet – of soldiers wearing the type of camouflage seen in the video pic.twitter.com/ROVP1q6tcZ
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The govt also asked why the soldiers in the video were not wearing full combat gear – heavy helmets, bulletproof vests, and rangers boots.
The answer is that they were not out on patrol. They were just a few hundred metres away from this combat outpost pic.twitter.com/lBsnabqXyr
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
In August, there was a sudden change in the govt’s position.
After weeks of denying that these killings took place in Cameroon, the Minister of Communication announced that 7 members of the military had been arrested and were under investigation. pic.twitter.com/21idCm0MI4
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
We found a Facebook profile that links the nickname ‘Tchotcho’ to a soldier called Cyriaque Bityala.
The name Cyriaque Bityala also appears on the government’s list of men now under investigation. pic.twitter.com/gSN6HMlV0W
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
At the end of the video, we see him again – blindfolding the litte girl he is about to kill.
A few seconds later, he draws his weapon and opens fire. pic.twitter.com/YB341xENfA
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
We identified two other guns used in the killing.
One of the was in the hands of this man. We see him here blindfolding the women with the baby just before the shooting starts.
Our military source identified him as Barnabas ‘Gonorso’. pic.twitter.com/ofOdRpOwI7
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
Although we were not able to confirm this identification, a very similar name – Barnabas Donossou – appeared 11 days later in the government’s list of men now under investigation. pic.twitter.com/KNvdDVib6o
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The other gun used in the killing is the Zastava M21 we saw earlier.
It’s in the hands of a man identified in the video as “Cobra.”
Who is Cobra? pic.twitter.com/mvWRoPvBbQ
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
As the women and children are killed, “Cobra” is the last man still firing into the bodies.
A colleague calls out “Tsanga, leave it, they’re dead.”
When he keeps firing, they call again: “That’s enough, Tsanga.” pic.twitter.com/qy9tFhwhvS
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
The name Tsanga also appears on the government’s list of soldiers now under investigation, suggesting that “Cobra” is a nickname for Lance Corporal Tsanga. pic.twitter.com/vVMz2YoJH5
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
We put these finding to the government of Cameroon, who said that 7 soldiers have been arrested, disarmed, and imprisoned while under investigation. pic.twitter.com/3zwlmMlaxe
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 24, 2018
Since being posted on Monday, that thread has amassed thousands and thousands of retweets. A number of people, including celebrities, have praised the journalism behind the thread.
What @BBCAfrica have done here is investigative journalism at its finest. Be aware that the story and video is beyond harrowing and not for the faint hearted. But remember this is all paid for by your license fee and it is, in my opinion, worth every penny. https://t.co/DurMaKEvcf
— James Corden (@JKCorden) September 24, 2018
Aliaume Leroy, a BBC Africa journalist who worked on the investigation, said that the team initially set out to discover where and when the video took place, and who can be seen in the clip.
“We thought it was very important, you know, to work on this video to verify it and to prove who were the perpetrators,” he told Carol Off, host of As It Happens, per CBC.
Mashable has reached out to the BBC for comment.
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