Claim: A video shows three gunship helicopters as part of a recent military operation against the “Fitna-al-Khawarij” in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Fact: The claim is misleading as the video dates back to January 2025, and therefore, unrelated to any military operations taking place in KPK in September 2026.
On 20 September 2026, X user WarFront Operations posted a video of helicopters flying in a mountainous area, apparently heading towards the area of Sitar Mandan and Qoum Ali Sherazi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as part of the Pakistan Army’s operation targeting Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also referred to as “Fitna-al-Khawarij”.
The video was posted alongside a caption in Urdu that has been translated as seen below:
[Translation: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Central Division | Security Operation The operation against the Fitna al-Khawarij continues into its second day as well. 3 gunship helicopters shelled the hideouts of terrorists in the areas of Sitar Mandan and Qoum Ali Sherazi.]
Screenshot of X post being fact-checked.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse-image search of the keyframes of the video showing all helicopters, which yielded the results of social media posted between January and March 2025. These posts describe the video as showing a security operation: some mention the location is Abbottabad, while another post indicates it is from Dhader.
The earliest instance of the video found online is from 18 January 2025, meaning that it does not represent any current military operations taking place in KPK in 2026.
Screenshot of the video shared on YouTube shorts in January 2025
Moreover, Soch Fact Check verified this video in the past when it was falsely linked to the Jaffar Express hijacking in March 2025, and concluded that the video predated the attack as it surfaced online first in January 2025.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found this video on Facebook, X and Instagram and the most interaction was found on X.
On X, the video saw 2,164 Views.
A reel of the military helicopters on Facebook garnered 37K views and 1.1K likes.
Conclusion: The video dates back to January 2025
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