Claim: A video shows a BLA attack on a train in Quetta, Balochistan, on 24 May 2026.
Fact: The video is old, having appeared online as early as April 2022, and likely shows a BLA attack on a train in January 2022; therefore, it is not linked to the recent incident.
Soon after a deadly explosion on a train in Quetta on 24 May, multiple users shared a video, claiming it was related to this particular incident.
One such post on Facebook stated [translated from Urdu into English]: “Check out the terrorist attack by BLA on a moving train.”
Screenshot of the Facebook post.
An explosion targeting a train killed at least 20 people and injured over four dozen people in Pakistan’s southwest on 24 May.
The blast, which is suspected to be a suicide bombing, derailed the shuttle train headed to a railway station from the cantonment area in Quetta and overturned two coaches.
Balochistan Liberation Army, a proscribed militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
This article only fact-checks the video circulating online.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check had previously debunked this clip when it was falsely linked to a train hijacking by the BLA in March 2025.
Reverse-searches now and back then confirmed that the footage is old and not linked to any of the above incidents.
On 15 April 2022, an X user posted the same footage, linking it to an attack by the BLA on Pakistani soldiers.
The longer version of the same footage also appeared on Reddit on 15 April 2022, with the caption stating: “Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed remote controlled IED attack derailing Jaffar Express carrying Pakistan Army personnel in Mushkaf an area between Bolan and Sibi district’s of Balochistan”.
On the left is a screenshot of a Facebook post from May 2026, which matches the Reddit video on the right from 15 April 2022.
The same video was also posted on a website called Funker 530. The website shares combat military videos and war footage around the globe for the veteran community. The caption of the post reads, “Separatists Derail Train With Improvised Explosive Device”. The video has the BLA logo on the top right corner, and according to its description, the footage was released by the BLA, showing an “improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a train they claimed was carrying Pakistani troops on 18 January 2022.” In the beginning, the video also features the same date and area where the attack was carried out.
Furthermore, Soch Fact Check found a video compilation of attacks by the BLA, uploaded to Internet Archive by Hakkal, the group’s media wing, on 14 April 2022. At 5:48, the scenes match the video being fact-checked, and details added to the clip state that this particular incident took place on 18 January 2022.
Screenshot of the video compilation by Hakkal Media.
Screenshot of the video compilation which shows the same scene as the one being factchecked.
An explosion took place near the Mushkaf area of Bolan, targeting the Jaffar Express, which was derailed, injuring at least five people.
Furthermore, in March 2025, Soch Fact Check spoke to local journalists about the video being shared in the context of the train hijacking, who confirmed the video was old at the time.
Asim Khan, a multimedia journalist from Quetta working with CNN and Lok Sujag – a local digital media outlet based in Lahore, told Soch Fact Check, in a WhatsApp message, that this particular video was from January 2022 and had nothing to do with the recent attack.
Soch Fact Check had also contacted Dauran Baloch, a freelance journalist residing in Quetta, to verify whether an IED explosion had been carried out on the Jaffar Express at the time. He stated that the train was fired at and there was likely an explosion before that, but this was not yet confirmed. However, the video in the viral claim was released by the BLA in 2022 and is not related to the recent incident, Baloch clarified.
Soch Fact Check therefore rates the claim as false.
Virality
The video was shared at least 30 times on Facebook, with one post garnering over 16,000 views.
Screenshot of the Facebook post.
It was also shared on X at least six times.
Conclusion: The video does not show an explosion that targeted a train in Quetta in May 2026. It is old, appearing online as early as April 2022, and likely shows a BLA attack during a separate incident in January 2022.
Background image in cover photo: Arab News
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com