Old visuals are falsely linked to unverified claims of Masood Azhar's death - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 3, 2024
Several posts (here, here) accompanying a video showing a bomb explosion on a crowded road, along with images of a blast and damaged car are being widely shared across social media platforms with a claim that these visuals show a bomb explosion in which Maulana Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was killed. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals showing a recent bomb blast in which Maulana Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was reportedly killed.
Fact: There are no credible news reports or official announcements regarding the death of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar. The visuals in the viral posts are linked to past incidents that took place in Pakistan and are not related to Masood Azhar. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
When we searched for news reports regarding the death of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, we did not find any credible news reports or official announcements regarding his death.
Video 1:
We conducted a reverse image search with keyframes of the viral video, which led us to an X post, shared on 3 November 2023, that carried the same video. Its caption mentioned that it showed an explosion targeting the police in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan area, which claimed six lives and left 25 injured. Pakistani politician Ali Wazir also shared the video on his X handle with the same information, along with other visuals of him meeting the injured people. We also found several news reports (here, here) regarding this incident.
Pakistan🚨 Six people were killed and 25 injured in a blast targeting a police van in Dera Ismail Khan. Gunshots were also heard after the blast. pic.twitter.com/HdF5RWzxkh
According to these reports, a bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded near a police vehicle in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, killing at least five people and wounding 20 people. From these news reports, we can confirm that the video in the viral post is an old and unrelated video to Maulana Masood Azhar.
Image 1:
A reverse image search of an image shared in another post led us to a news report by Times of India. According to the report, a car bomb blast occurred on 21 April 2021, in the parking area of a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta. The incident resulted in the death of four people and injuries to 11 others. Additional news reports about this incident can be found here and here.
Image 2:
Upon conducting a reverse image search of another image in the post, we came across a news report by MM News. According to this report, the accident occurred on the express highway near Islamabad’s I-8 on the early morning of 15 September 2019. A speeding car lost control and collided with a tree, resulting in the death of all four individuals on board. Additionally, several X users posted news about this incident, mentioning Daniyal Khan as a renowned TikToker in Pakistan (here, here). Further news reports regarding this incident can be found here, here.
To sum it up, old and unrelated visuals are being shared as those of an unconfirmed recent bomb blast in which Maulana Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was reportedly killed.