A year-old video of a fire near Pakistan’s national mosque has been misused in posts that claim it shows the aftermath of a drone attack during the recent conflict with India. An AFP journalist visited the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad and found no signs of damage from the fighting.<\/h3>\n
“Drone attack on Faisal Mosque Islamabad,” reads the Urdu-language caption of a video<\/a> posted on X on May 8, 2025.<\/p>\n The video, showing a fire on the side of the road on the way to the mosque<\/a> in the capital, was shared as India and Pakistan clashed in the worst violence<\/a> between the countries in decades (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Drone, missile, fighter jet and artillery attacks across the nuclear-armed neighbours’ contested frontier claimed the lives of at least 70 people on both sides before a ceasefire<\/a> was agreed (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The fighting erupted two weeks after an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 people and which India accused Pakistan of backing.<\/p>\n Pakistan firmly denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false X post, captured on May 16, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The same clip was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on\u00a0Facebook<\/a> and\u00a0TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Pakistani military sources said its forces had shot down 77 drones<\/a> with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country, the footage circulating online predates the latest conflict\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n A reverse image search<\/a>\u00a0on Google using\u00a0keyframes<\/a> from the falsely shared video led to similar visuals<\/span> embedded in local news reports from the\u00a0Pakistan Observer<\/a> and Daily Ausaf<\/a> about a fire near the mosque on May 28, 2024\u00a0(archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n The footage used in the news reports show the same vehicle parked near to a roadside fire on the approach to the Faisal Mosque.<\/p>\n According to the Daily Ausaf report, the fire broke out as Islamabad and much of the country sizzled through a heatwave.<\/p>\n