The dubious portal with content in Albanian "xnews7.com" published yesterday (February 20) an article titled "BREAKING NEWS: Three powerful explosions in the North."
The content of the article states that the hand grenades were allegedly thrown at the Vehicle Control Center and Car Lazari, in North Mitrovica.
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news is old and relates to an event that occurred in November of last year.
Link to the article published on the dubious portal "xnews7.com" on February 20:
This article, published by the dubious portal, was also shared on Facebook by pages like "Albanianness Has a Name","Global Network","Maringlen","Rich Shqip Newspaper","Freedom Has a Name", and "Desi News".
After researching through online search engines, hibrid.info has managed to find the authentic article published in real time (November 19, 2023) by the information portal "Koha.net", which is also cited in the content published by the dubious portal "xnews7.com". (see here)
The last incident reported in the media was published on January 16, where two people were injured after a hand grenade exploded near a hotel in North Mitrovica. (see here and here)
Analyze:
Through an old news story from November 2023 regarding explosions in Northern Kosovo, it was falsely claimed that the same occurred yesterday (February 20).
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.