Claim: A video shows the funeral of 130 Pakistan Army soldiers killed in an August 2024 BLA attack dubbed ‘Operation Herof’.
Fact: The clip predates the BLA attack in question. It actually shows a funeral of the police officers who were killed in a bandit attack in Rahim Yar Khan on 22 August 2024.
On 18 January, an X user posted a video (archive) apparently showing the funeral of 130 Pakistani soldiers who were killed in an operation by the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The post reads:
“130 Pakistani soldiers lost their lives in #OperationHerof
How many in #OperationSindoor?”
The text embedded in the video reiterates the same.
The post refers to the attacks carried out by the BLA (archive) in Balochistan in August 2024. Dubbed “Operation Herof” by the banned outfit, it targeted the Pakistani military and local police stations across the province, while the group also blocked highways in various areas of Balochistan.
As a result, 130 Pakistani soldiers were killed according to the BLA — a claim that remains unverified to this day. The attacks, which involved the killing of passengers offloaded from buses and trucks in Balochistan’s Musakhail district, left over 50 people dead.
A clearance operation conducted by law enforcement officials killed 21 militants and another 14 soldiers, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated in a press release at the time.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it does not show Pakistani soldiers killed in ‘Operation Herof’, which was carried out on 25 August and 26 August 2024.
The clip being fact-checked appeared online at least a day before the BLA attack in question. A Facebook user uploaded the same clip (archive) on 24 August 2024. Its keyframes match the video in the claim as shown below:
Left: clip circulating online in January 2026. Right: Video uploaded to Facebook on 24 August 2024.
Reverse-searches also yielded a fact-check by AFP from 9 September 2024, titled “Video of Pakistan policemen’s funeral falsely linked to Balochistan attacks”. This article also fact-checks posts which circulated the video with the same claim at the time. AFP found the clip had been shared on YouTube in two instances before the BLA attack. One of the YouTube clips from 24 August 2024, is the same as the video being fact-checked. According to its title, it shows “کچے (رحیم یار خان)کے پولیس شہداء” or “the policemen martyred in Rahim Yar Khan”.
Taking cues from this, Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search and found that Associated Press had reported on the attack on 23 August 2024. The article, titled “Gunmen ambush and kill 11 police officers in eastern Pakistan, officials say”, carries the image depicting the funeral of the policemen. The second image in the carousel matches a keyframe from the video being fact-checked, confirming that the claim is false.
Bandits armed with rocket-propelled grenades ambushed the police in a deserted area in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, on 22 August 2024, killing at least 11 policemen and injuring seven others.
A scene from the clip being fact-checked that matches the image by AP showing a funeral of the police officers killed in a bandit attack in Rahim Yar Khan on 22 August 2024.
Dawn also uploaded the same video of the funeral to their Facebook page on 23 August 2024, albeit from a different angle.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, rates the claim as false.
Virality
The claim garnered 18,900 views and 976 likes. It also appeared on X here, here, here, here, .
It was shared on Instagram here.
Previously, the video was shared with the same claim in 2024 here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video does not show “130” Pakistan Army soldiers killed in the BLA attacks from 25 and 26 August 2024. It actually shows a funeral of the policemen killed in a bandit attack in Rahim Yar Khan on 22 August 2024.
Background image in cover photo: The Khaama Press News Agency
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com