‘Disinformation galore’: Govt dismisses claims of suicide attack on Army brigade in Rajouri as fake news   

The government on Friday dismissed claims of a suicide attack on an Army brigade in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri and a drone attack in Punjab’s Jalandhar by certain social media handles as “fake news".

The Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check Unit found that there was no “fidayeen" or suicide attack on any Army cantonment in Jammu and Kashmir, while the video claiming to be that of a drone attack in Jalandhar pertained to a farm fire.

It also found that an old video shared on social media claiming to be of Pakistan’s missile attack on India was actually of an explosive attack that took place in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2020.

“A barrage of coordinated disinformation has been carried out by certain social media handles in general and mainstream media in particular in Pakistan with the sole objective to instill fear among the Indian masses," a PIB statement said.

The PIB Fact Check Unit also said that a video of an explosion on an oil tanker dating back to July 7, 2021, was passed off as an attack on the Hazira Port in Gujarat.

The claims on social media about attacks on certain Indian targets peaked as India on Thursday thwarted Pakistan’s attempts to target its military sites, including in Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur, Uttarlai and Bhuj, with drones and missiles as tensions soared between the two countries amid fears of a wider military conflict.

Jalandhar