Claim: Video shows Pakistan’s military bombing the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as part of an ongoing operation against the proscribed militant group.
Fact: The video is at least 10 years old and likely originated in Afghanistan.
A Facebook user posted a video (archive) that apparently shows the Pakistan Army conducting an operation against the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The video shows a massive bombing at a site from afar.
Part of the caption making this claim reads [translated from Urdu]: “Operation Masoom is ongoing against Fitnah-ul-Hindustan BLA on mountains. Remember your soldiers in prayers”.
Declining security situation in Balochistan
Over the last few months, terror attacks have shaken Balochistan, the southwestern province of Pakistan.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a militant separatist group, has consistently carried out terror attacks on security forces as well as civilians since last year. The most recent deadliest attack claimed by the group was the hijacking of the passenger train, Jaffar Express, on 11 March, which was en route to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Quetta, Balochistan.
Last year, the group’s complex attack in Mach, Balochistan, began with a volley of rockets fired from the mountains on the night of 29 January 2024. The insurgents then attacked a police station, a railway station, and the central jail in Mach, where the exchange of fire lasted for about 12 hours. The Pakistani military, in the aftermath of the attack, said India was the sponsor of such attacks in Balochistan. This remains to be verified.
Most recently, the province witnessed a suicide attack on a school bus carrying school children in Khuzdar on 22 May, which killed 10 people, including eight children and two adults. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. However, Pakistani state officials swiftly alleged that India was behind the suicide bombing. They claimed India carries out such attacks by funding their proxy group in Balochistan, the BLA.
The military spokesperson also alleged that India was behind the bus attack in Khuzdar and said that the military would continue intelligence-based operations against terrorism.
It is likely that claims about videos showing the Pakistan Army’s ongoing attacks against the BLA began circulating after the ISPR’s announcement of a possible military operation against the militant group.
Fact or Fiction?
Reverse-searching keyframes from the video indicated it is not related to Balochistan and is at least a decade old.
On 31 May 2014, a YouTube channel called “World Wide Military Video Archive” posted a video, titled “Airstrike on Insurgents by 9 1000lb JDAM’s GBU-32.” At the 1:10 mark, the explosion scene in this clip matches the video in the claim. The description of the YouTube clip further explains the “Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM),” which it states is a “guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or ‘dumb bombs’ into all-weather ‘smart’ munitions.”
Another YouTube channel “Das DVSONE” posted a similar video in February 2014, with the title “WAR 6 JDAM Bombs TOT 5 seconds The STAN [HD]”. At 0:04, the footage matches the video from the claim. Both instances of the YouTube posts confirm that the video in the claim predates the ongoing precarious situation in Balochistan by at least a decade.
A website called military.com also posted a similar video (archive) with the description: “U.S. Air Force drops 9 JDAMs on Insurgent position in Afghanistan” in March 2012. The explosion scenes here also match those from the video in the claim, suggesting that not only is it old but also likely shows Afghanistan.
Moreover, some websites here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive), carried a picture of the explosion over the years that matches a still from the video in the claim. The websites also attributed the photo to Afghanistan, suggesting that this is the likely location shown in the video.
Therefore, the video is old and the claim is false.
Virality
The video appeared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
On YouTube, the video appeared, with users linking it to the India-Pakistan conflict here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video in the claim does not depict the Pakistan Army bombing the BLA as part of any ongoing operation against the militant group. It is, in fact, 10 years old and likely originates from Afghanistan.
Background image in cover photo: Harrapa
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