Claim: Four videos show the Indian Army’s attacks on Rawalpindi in May 2025.
Fact: The videos are old and unrelated; they actually show Iran’s ballistic missiles raining down in Israel in October 2024.
On 10 May 2025, Instagram user @pavankumarkudithipati_official posted (archive) a collage of three videos showing missiles hitting various locations, apparently in Rawalpindi in Pakistan’s Punjab province, in what was a four-day military conflict with India that culminated in a ceasefire.
The accompanying caption reads:
“Breaking: 🔥 10/SAT /2025 Indian army attacks Rawalpindi in Pakistan.🔥”
Another video posted (archive) by X user @VishalMalvi_ on 7 May 2025 also shows similar attacks, apparently on Pakistan, by India.
“Happy Diwali, Pakistan, Indian army 🔥Jai Hind 🇮🇳, #OperationSindoor”
Pakistan-India conflict
In one of the most intense military escalations in decades, Pakistan and India exchanged drones, fire, shelling, and missiles for four days in May 2025, resulting in casualties on both sides. The conflict raised fears of a nuclear war between the two neighbouring countries who have fought three wars over the disputed Kashmir region.
India launched “Operation Sindoor” on 7 May 2025, targeting at least six locations inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. These attacks killed at least 31 people — including three children — and wounded 57 others, according to Pakistani authorities.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that the Pakistan Army “intercepted and destroyed 77 Israeli-made Harop drones” from India, a number also cited by state media outlet, the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV). As of now, Soch Fact Check has not been able to independently verify the exact number of Indian drones that entered Pakistan or how many were shot down.
However, debris from multiple drones was found in a number of locations; Soch Fact Check visited and investigated the attacks at two crash sites each in Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Lahore. Read our on-ground report here.
In response, the Pakistan Army announced a counterattack — named “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos,” which is an Arabic phrase that translates to “steel wall” — against India in the wee hours of 10 May 2025.
The military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said Pakistan hit “26x military targets as well as facilities that were used to target Pakistani citizens and those enterprises that were responsible for fomenting terrorism in Pakistan”. These included those at “Suratgarh, Sirsa, Bhuj, Naliya, Adampur, Bhatinda, Barnala, Halwara, Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, Mamun, Ambala, and Pathankot”, it said. “[The] BrahMos storage facilities at Beas and Nagrota were also destroyed.”
India’s Defence Ministry alleged that Pakistan “launched 300-400 drones across 36 Indian locations”.
In a 13 May statement, the Pakistan Army announced a total death toll of 51, including “40 civilians and 11 military service members”, and that close to 200, including 121 civilians, were wounded.
On the other hand, India announced on 11 May that 21 civilians and five soldiers have died.
On 10 May, both nations announced a ceasefire agreement, which Pakistan says was brokered by US President Trump. New Delhi maintains that the ceasefire was worked out “directly” by both sides.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found that all three clips in the first video, as well as the second, are unrelated to the Pakistan-India conflict from May 2025.
The videos actually show Iranian missiles hitting Israeli military sites “in response to the assassinations of senior Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian officials”, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) saying Tehran targeted “three military bases” in the Tel Aviv area.
The IRGC added that 90% of the over 180 ballistic missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the US had informed Israel about the upcoming strikes from Iran and that the armed forces were at their “highest readiness”. There were no casualties, he noted.
The first of the three clips in the compilation can be seen in an Instagram post from 1 October 2024, the second in an Al Jazeera video on YouTube from 2 October 2024, and a screenshot from the third in a 4 October 2024 report by The Washington Post.
All three can also be found here in a YouTube video from 1 October 2024.
The second video, posted by @VishalMalvi_, can be found on YouTube here, where it was uploaded on 2 October 2024. It was also published here on 1 October 2024, with the title, “Iranian missiles targeting the Nevatim airbase in the Negev Desert.”
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that none of the videos show India targeting Pakistan’s Rawalpindi.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the claim appeared here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: None of the clips show India’s attacks on Pakistan’s Rawalpindi. They are old and unrelated and actually depict Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel in October 2024.
Background image in cover photo: Moslem Danesh
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