Claim: An explosion occurred at a “military facility” in Multan, Punjab, on 3 October 2026.

Fact: There are no credible reports of such an explosion and the accompanying visuals are old and unrelated. Multan’s authorities have said that “Punjab Police has no military centre” in the city.

On 3 October 2026, multiple Facebook pages alleged, citing sources, that an explosion took place at a military facility in Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province. They claimed there was no information about casualties at the time.

Some of the captions accompanying the viral posts are as follows:

• “#عاجل د پاکستان له پنجاب ایالت څخه ځایي سرچېنې وایي چې شېبه مخکې د پنجاب پولیسو په ملتان نظامي مرکز کې چاو/دنه شوې، د تــ/لفاتو په اړه یې تر دې مهاله دقیق ارقام نشته. [#Breaking: Local sources from Pakistan’s Punjab province report that an explosion occurred moments ago at the Multan military centre; there are currently no precise figures regarding casualties.]”
• “: #پنجاب پولیس کے #ملتان میں واقع #فوجی #مرکز میں #دھماکہ ہوا۔ [: #Explosion occurred at the #military #centre of #Punjab Police in #Multan.]”
• “#عاجل د پاکستان پنجاب ایالت په ملتان کې د پولیسو په یوه نظامي مرکز کې د چ..اودن.ې راپور ورکړل شوی. سیمه‌ییزې سرچینې وایي، چ..اودنه څو شېبې مخکې شوې، خو تر اوسه د احتمالي تلفاتو په اړه کره معلومات نه دي خپاره شوي. [Breaking: An explosion has been reported at a police facility in Multan, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Local sources state that the blast occurred moments ago, but no confirmed information regarding potential casualties has been released yet.]”

Screenshot of one of the viral posts

A few hours later, posts surfaced, attributing the information to Geo News, that nine people, including “two military commanders”, had died in the explosion.

Screenshot of one of the viral posts

The caption accompanying the post reads as follows:

“#عاجل_خبر: د ملتان په نظـ/ـامي مرکز کې زوروره چـ/ـاودنه شوې د پاکستان له پنجاب ایالت څخه ځایي سرچېنې وایي چې شېبه مخکې د پنجاب پولیسو په ملتان نظامي مرکز کې چـ$ـاودنه شوې ده په پنجاب کې چاودنې ۹ تنه 𝒐ژلي، د دوو پوځي قوماندانانو د 𝒐ژل کېدو ادعا هم شوې: د پاکستان رسمي تلویزون جیو نیوز د دې انځورونو په نشرولو سره لیکلي چې د پنجاب نن شپې چـ$ـاودنه کې د ۲ پوځي قوماندانانو په شمول ۹ تنه مردار  شوي دي. دنورو تازه معلوماتو لپاره
[#Breaking_News: A powerful explosion has occurred at a military facility in Multan. Local sources from Pakistan’s Punjab province report that an explosion took place a short while ago at the military centre in Multan. Explosion in Punjab kills 9; claims made regarding the deaths of two military commanders: Pakistan’s Geo News, while publishing images of the incident, reported that nine people—including two military commanders—were killed in the explosion that occurred in Punjab tonight. For further updates…]”

Another post on X (formerly Twitter) shows a scene at the purported military facility in Multan with smoke and flames billowing inside. It is accompanied by the following caption:

“#بریکنگ 🚨🚨 پاکستان کے صوبہ پنجاب سے مقامی ذرائع کا کہنا ہے کہ کچھ ہی دیر قبل پنجاب پولیس کے ملتان فوجی مرکز میں دھماکا ہوا ہے۔ ابھی تک جانی نقصان کے بارے میں درست اعداد و شمار سامنے نہیں آئے۔
[#Breaking 🚨🚨 Local sources from Pakistan’s Punjab province report that an explosion occurred a short while ago at the Punjab Police’s Multan military centre. Precise figures regarding casualties are not yet available.]”

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check searched for verifiable reports by credible news outlets but did not find any.

No such report is available on Geo News — which is mentioned in some of the viral posts’ captions — either.

Moreover, a “military centre of the Punjab Police” in Multan, mentioned in some of the posts, does not make sense as the police and military are two separate entities.

We also came across a post from Multan City Police’s Facebook page, which had issued a rebuttal to the claim, saying it was “fake & false”.

“This is totally ‘FAKE & FALSE’ propaganda news and photo as Punjab Police has no military centre in Multan. Punjab Police request not to further share such FAKE news without confirmation which could cause panic in citizens. Strict action will be initiated against the responsibles….,” it added.

Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the accompanying images — of the explosion and the police officers — and found them to be old and unrelated as well.

The image depicting burnt vehicles amid flames is from a suicide bombing that took place in a market in Balochistan’s capital, Quetta, on 12 August 2017, according to multiple news reports. The attack — which was claimed by Islamic State, also known as Daesh — hit “a paramilitary patrol” passing by and led to “around 15 casualties”, according to Sarfraz Bugti, the then-provincial home minister.

The picture is credited to Naseer Ahmed of Reuters and is available on the agency’s dedicated media website. Similar images but from a slightly different angle can be seen on Getty Images here, here, here, and here.

The photos of two deceased personnel show the police officers who were “martyred … when unidentified gunmen riding motorbikes opened fire at them” in the Jabukhel area of Lakki Marwat, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Dawn reported on 6 January 2025. The Nation also carried the same story.

As for the image on X showing smoke and fire at the purported military facility in Multan, it was generated using OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

OpenAI’s verification tool said it “found a SynthID watermark that originated from” the company’s models, confirming that the image is AI-generated.

Results from OpenAI’s verification tool

Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that there are no credible reports of a bombing at a Multan military facility and the accompanying visuals are old and unrelated.

Disinformation from Afghanistan

We traced all three claims and posts — comprising images of the blast and vehicles on fire, photos of the two soldiers, and the targeted facility’s gate — to users who appear to be based in Afghanistan.

We believe the earliest post carrying the image depicting vehicles on fire and the primary claim is from a user who appears to be Afghan or supports Afghanistan.

The photos of the two deceased police officers were also posted first by a page operated by users based in Afghanistan.

The third post showing the facility’s gate with smoke in the background also appears to be from an Afghan X user, despite their handle being @Islamabad_2006.

The “About” section of @Islamabad_2006’s profile states that it is “based in Central Asia” and “connected via Central Asia Android App”, a tactic many Afghanistan-based accounts use often to only show their region, not country, while spreading misinformation and disinformation.

Screenshot of @Islamabad_2006’s “About” section

Posts by Pakistani accounts making the same claim appeared after those by users and pages in Afghanistan.

Virality

Soch Fact Check found dozens of Facebook posts making the same claim, with a large number of them from users based in Afghanistan.

Similarly, most of the X posts claiming that an explosion took place at a military facility in Multan are from Afghan users.

Conclusion: There are no credible reports of such an explosion and the accompanying visuals are old and unrelated. “Punjab Police has no military centre” in Multan, the city’s authorities have said.

Background image in cover photo: Afaq Khan

To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com