India-Pakistan misinformation circulates online following air strikes

^{Missile fragments after Indian strikes in Pakistan's Punjab province, on 7 May.}

Misleading content, including unrelated videos and images, has been shared widely online in the aftermath of Indian air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In the early hours of Wednesday 7 May, India launched a series of strikes, which Pakistan has said has now killed 36. India says at least 16 people have been killed by Pakistani shelling on its side of the de facto border.

Both countries have accused each other of carrying out cross-border shelling, missile and drone attacks following India’s initial air strikes.

The Indian defence ministry said those strikes were part of a commitment to hold those responsible accountable for an attack, which took place at a popular beauty spot in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April and left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Full Fact has since identified clips and pictures circulating on social media, which falsely claim to depict scenes connected to the conflict.

Misleading images and videos

We fact checked a picture of a burning plane that was shared on Facebook with a caption claiming it showed a plane shot down by Pakistan. The country said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets, including French-made Rafales, and a drone—a claim India has not confirmed.

But a reverse image search revealed the picture was used in a report by an Indian news site about a crash in September 2024, where an Indian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet crashed in Barmer, Rajasthan, in the north west of the country.

We have also found that footage likely depicting conflict in the Middle East has frequently been shared with misleading claims it shows the strikes in South Asia.

One of these was a video featuring a series of explosions at night, which was shared with captions saying: “#BREAKING: Pakistan Army confirms attack by India. India has launched an attack on Pakistan”.

But this clip has been online since at least 13 October 2023, when it was described as depicting Israeli air strikes on Gaza, although Full Fact has not been able to independently verify this footage.

Striking images of buildings illuminated by fire were also shared on Facebook with the claim that they showed India carrying out strikes in Sialkot, in Pakistan.

India has said it targeted two camps in Sialkot, but both images featured in news reports about Israeli air strikes in Gaza in May and June of 2021.

Another video of explosions and rockets in the sky, posted on X with the hashtag #OperationSindoor—the Indian government’s name for the air strikes on Pakistan—has been online since at least October 2024. Media outlets reported at the time that it showed Iranian missiles hitting the Nevatim airbase in Israel, but Full Fact has not yet been able to verify this.

^{A house damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Kalgi village in Uri, about 125 km from Srinagar, on 8 May.}

Reaction to the conflict

A clip of President Donald Trump saying “And they’re fighting each other. I said, why don’t you let them fight? Why are we getting in the middle of it?” has also been circulating on Facebook with captions implying he was speaking about the India-Pakistan conflict.

But this is actually old footage of the Republican president discussing the Islamic State group and the Taliban fighting each other in Afghanistan during a cabinet meeting in 2019.

Misinformation has been circulating about the reaction in the UK too. A video that shows a bustling street with one man on top of a vehicle waving Pakistan flags is being shared with a caption saying: “Pakistani protests have started - IN ENGLAND…..”

But this video, which was filmed on Manchester’s Curry Mile, has been circulating online since at least August 2024. By analysing Google Street View images, we found that the video was filmed before September 2023, and therefore cannot be related to the recent conflict, as the caption implied.

Misleading information can spread quickly during breaking news events, especially during periods of crisis and conflict. Before sharing content that you see online, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. We’ve written guides explaining key tools to help you spot misleading images and videos.