Claim: A viral video shows a recent terror attack on Pakistan’s security forces.
Fact: The footage is not from either of the recent suicide attacks reported in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In fact, it dates back to October 2024 and shows the aftermath of an explosion near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.
On 30 November, a video was shared on Facebook with the following caption:
“ات کو ایک بڑا دہشتگردوں کا حملہ ناکام بنایا گیا
اس صوبہ کا وزیر اعلیٰ سہیل آفریدی پانچ دن پنجاب میں نک دا کوکا پر ناچتا ہے دو دن عمران خان کی بہنوں کے پاس گزارتا ہے عوام سے اس کا کوئی لینا دینا نہیں ہے”
[Translation: A major terrorist attack was foiled last night.
The chief minister of this province, Sohail Afridi, spends five days in Punjab dancing and two days with Imran Khan’s sisters. He has nothing to do with the public.]
The same video was also shared by the Facebook page “الاخبار الجزائرية العربية” [Algerian Arabic news] with the caption:
“هجوم عنيف على قاعدة حدودية تابعة لجيش باكستان
تقول مصادر محلية في إقليم بلوجستان الباكستاني إن هجوماً واسعاً ومتعدّد المراحل قد استهدف القاعدة الكبيرة لقوات حرس الحدود التابعة للجيش في منطقة نوكندي، بمحافظة چاغي.”
[Translation: A violent attack on a Pakistani Army border base.
Local sources in Pakistan’s Balochistan province say that a large, multi-stage assault targeted the major Frontier Corps base in the Nokundi area of Chagai district.]
Attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan
A woman suicide bomber attacked the Frontier Corps headquarters in Nokundi, Chagai district, on 30 November officials said. The banned Balochistan Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Zinat Rafiq, Dawn reported. Three militants were reportedly killed upon entering the compound, though others managed to get inside. Locals reported that intermittent gunfire continued until Monday evening.
Another suicide attack took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where an attacker targeted a police van in the Lakki Marwat district, reported Arab News. The report added that no group claimed responsibility for the attack as of 1 December, but the province has witnessed a surge in violence by the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after a fragile ceasefire with the state broke down in November 2022. The rise in attacks is considered a continuation of the increased militant activity that followed the breakdown of the ceasefire in November 2022. The TTP ordered its militants to stage attacks throughout the country. Since then violence has remained high and even escalated in recent months with Pakistan recording a rise in attacks and fatalities throughout 2024 and 2025.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found the claim dubious because the captions on different posts disputed the location and details of the attack. We reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and traced them to an Instagram post by Dawn. The post featured an extended footage, which included the viral clip, and was shared on 6 October 2024 in the context of an explosion near Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.
The caption of the post stated:
“An explosion was reported near Karachi airport on Sunday night, with sounds heard by people in different areas, according to media reports.
Television footage showed smoke rising from the area near the airport, with a blazing fire visible on the road.
“The sound of the explosion has been heard in different areas of the city”, said Dawn News TV reporter Imran Hafeez.
“The sound was heard as far as North Nazimabad, II Chundrigar Road, and Karimabad, among other areas.”
The reporter at the scene stated that a car had been set ablaze near a traffic signal close to the airport, where VIP protocol vehicles are usually stationed.
“Some other cars parked in the area have also caught fire,” the reporter said.”
On 6 October, an explosion near Jinnah International Airport left two foreign nationals dead and 17 others injured. According to the China Global South Project, a local journalist in Karachi heard the blast around 11:00 pm. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group seeking autonomy for Pakistan’s Balochistan province, claimed responsibility, stating that it had targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors.
The reverse-search also led to an Urdu report by Geo News, published on 2 December 2024, which featured stills from the viral clip. The report stated that the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had registered another case related to the Karachi airport suicide attack. According to CTD sources, a new FIR was filed at the CTD police station, naming key commanders of the banned BLA Majeed Brigade as suspects.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check confirms that the viral clip is from the October 2024 explosion near Jinnah International Airport, Karachi; it does not depict either of the two recent attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan.
Virality
The video was shared here (archive) and here (archive) on Facebook.
On Instagram, it was shared here (archive).
Conclusion: The viral video does not show the recent suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan. It is old footage from an explosion near Karachi airport in October 2024.
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Background image in cover photo: Geo
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