An image falsely linked to an Indian military attack on Karachi Port has been traced back to a 2020 BBC report on Gaza, exposing a growing wave of conflict-related misinformation online.
A viral claim that the Indian armed forces have launched an attack on Karachi Port in Pakistan has flooded social media. Several users on X (formerly Twitter) have shared videos and images, alleging to show explosions at the port. One widely circulated post, with over 2 million views, featured a dramatic image of a blast at night, captioned “Karachi Port🔥🔥,” suggesting it was part of a retaliatory Indian military operation.
However, the image in question is neither recent nor related to Pakistan.
Independent fact-checkers have swiftly debunked the claim. Ankita Mahalanobish, who tracks misinformation and disinformation trends in South Asia, traced the image to a BBC article published on 24 February 2020. The original context of the photograph is from Gaza, not Karachi. Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking outlet Alt News, also confirmed this, sharing screenshots of the original source. Additionally, X라이브 바카라 own AI fact-checking tool, 'Grok', flagged the post as misleading, linking it to the archived BBC piece on Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
At the time of reporting, no official confirmation has been provided by the Indian government or international monitoring bodies about any strike on Karachi Port. Pakistan라이브 바카라 authorities have also issued no statement supporting the viral claim.
This is not an isolated incident. Over the past week, old videos and images from Gaza, Syria, and even Hollywood movies have been falsely attributed to current events between India and Pakistan.