Same video shared as Pak attack in Amritsar and Indian strike in Sialkot. In reality, it shows neither

Even as as tensions escalate between India and Pakistan following military strikes between the two countries, unverified images and videos claiming to be related to the conflict have flooded social media. One such video is being shared by Pakistani social media handles with the claim that Pakistan had struck an Indian military base in Amritsar, Punjab.

A fortnight after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam had killed 26 people, Indian armed forces in the early hours of May 7 launched Operation Sindoor, hitting nine sites in Pakistan and PoK from where attacks against India had been planned and directed. The Union ministry of defence described the action as “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”, with no Pakistani military facilities having been targeted. Late on May 7, reports came in of heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan on forward villages along the Line of Control in Poonch and Rajouri areas of Jammu and Kashmir killing at least 16 civilians. They also attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India including in Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot and Amritsar, among other places, using drones and missiles. These were neutralized by India’s integrated counter UAS grid and air defence systems. Subsequently, Indian armed forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan in a proportionate response, and neutralized the air defence system in Lahore.

Against this backdrop, a user named Hanuman tweeted the video and wrote that Pakistan attacked the military base in Amritsar in which numerous casualties were reported with several seriously injured. (Archived link)

A Pakistani user shared this video and called it an attack by Pakistan on India’s Amritsar military base. (Archived link)

A user named Voice of India also made the same claim while tweeting the video. (Archived link)

Interestingly, many users including BJP leader Shaurya Mishra and The Jaipur Dialogues shared the same clip describing it as visuals of an Indian attack in Sialkot, Pakistan. 

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Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search of a few frames from the viral video, which led us to a video uploaded by a Chilean media outlet on February 4, 2024. The accompanying caption states that this video depicts a fire in Chile’s Valparaiso region. This makes it clear that this video is at least a year old and has no connection with the recent tensions between India and Pakistan.

An account named @WallStreetApes tweeted this video on March 1, 2024, stating that this was a scene of a fire in Texas.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA used this video in an article on April 14, 2024, claiming that this video showed Iranian missiles attacking the Negev sector of southern Israel.

Alt News cannot confirm the origin of this video from any of the three incidents. However, in the course of our investigation, we found enough evidence to conclude that the viral footage has been present online for at least a year and hence has no connection to the recent tensions between India and Pakistan.

The post Same video shared as Pak attack in Amritsar and Indian strike in Sialkot. In reality, it shows neither appeared first on Alt News.

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