A video has been in circulation on social media that claims to show a night raid carried out by India on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Punjab Province in Pakistan on May 7, Wednesday. The video went viral soon after India announced that it has carried out air strikes on Pakistan on Wednesday, killing several militants and destroying terrorist bases.
However, the video that is being circulated on social media is not authentic and has been in circulation since 2023, long before India's ballistic missile attack. Although it is not clear where the video first originated, it definitely isn't a video of the May 7 attack carried out by India on Pakistan.
Video Likely from Israel's Attack
The video footage was posted hours after India announced that it carried out surgical strikes on Pakistan. The post first appeared on the X account of "Republicans against Trump" which opened with the lines:"BREAKING: India has carried out ballistic missile attacks on multiple sites in Pakistan."
It continued: "A war between two nuclear powers has begun."
However, the video is completely false and misleading. The video footage shared by @RpsAgainstTrump account originally appeared more than 18 months ago on an X account with the handle @kabulnewstv.
The original post was in Pashto and after being translated into English it read: "Israel intensified its bombing of Gaza last night. According to Palestinian media reports, 400 people, including women and children, lost their lives in last night's bombings, and hundreds more are still trapped under collapsed buildings."
Below is how the post originally appeared on October 20, 2023:
India Carried Strikes but Footage Not Available
As of now, although both India and Pakistan have confirmed air raids on May 7, there aren't too many video clips available. And the one that is being circulated is completely fake. On Wednesday morning, fighter jets roared across the skies above the Himalayan region, with loud blasts echoing near the area known as the Line of Control.
The strikes were aimed at areas "where terrorist attacks against India have been planned," the Indian military said. Pakistani officials reported that the airstrikes killed more than 30 and left dozens injured.
Among the dead were five civilians who lost their lives in Ahmedpur East, located in Punjab province. "A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched "OPERATION SINDOOR", hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed", the Indian government confirmed the airstrikes in a statement in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Indian army said that no Pakistani military installations were attacked, noting that India had shown "considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution."
"Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given," Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement.
