Old photo of suicide attack victim falsely shared as 'survivor' of 2022 Kabul bombing

The photo has gained more than 3,500 retweets since it was posted on Twitter on October 2, 2022.

Its caption reads: "This is the face of Hazara Shia persecution. This young lady survived yesterday's bombing of an educational center in Kabul, but lost most of her friends and classmates.

"Her face won't make it to magazine covers in the West because she is not Malala. #StopHazaraGenocide".

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on October 11, 2022

On September 30, a suicide attacker blew himself up in a Kabul study hall as hundreds of people were taking tests in preparation for university entrance exams in the city's Dasht-e-Barchi area.

The western neighbourhood is a predominantly Shiite Muslim enclave and home to the minority Hazara community -- a historically persecuted group that has been targeted in some of Afghanistan's most brutal attacks in recent years.

A day after the attack, dozens of Hazara women defied a Taliban ban on rallies to protest against the "genocide" of their minority community, AFP reported.

The photo circulated alongside a similar claim on Twitter here, here, here and here; and on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.

A reverse image search on Google, however, found the claim is false.

Attack on TV workers

The photo was originally published by US media company Getty Images on April 9, 2016.

Its caption states in part: "Razia Noorizada Didar, 30, was one of the seriously wounded victims that worked with Tolo for a decade.

"Razia has a lost sight in her left eye, and has several fractured bones, her face is scarred from burns and shrapnel."

Seven employees of popular Afghan TV channel Tolo were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing on January 20, 2016, AFP reported.

The Taliban said the attack was revenge for "spreading propaganda" against the group.

Tolo's news division also reported on the attack.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in one of the false posts (left) with the photo published by Getty Images (right):

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Comparison of false claim in tweet (left) and Getty Images original (right)

The same photo was also published by TIME magazine on June 29, 2016.

Claims of 'fake victim'

In other posts, the photo was shared alongside another image purportedly showing the same woman smiling and without scars, here and here.

The posts claim the photo showing the scarred woman had been "photoshopped" and showed a "fake" blast victim.

But this is also false: the purported image of the smiling, unscarred woman has been digitally altered from the Getty Images photo of blast victim Razia Noorizada Didar.

In the false posts, the photo collage bears a text overlay that reads "Mahdi Muhibbi" -- the name of the digital artist who posted the collage on Twitter on October 4, 2022, and on Instagram on October 5, 2022.

Below is a screenshot comparing the photoshopped image in the false posts (left) with the original from Getty Images (right):

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Comparison of photoshopped image (left) to Getty Images original (right)

Responding to the posts, Muhibbi told AFP he used various software programmes to digitally alter the original image, which he posted on Twitter with the caption "To heal your wound".

"The smile on her face is a fake smile by FaceApp, the retouch on her face is done Photoshop," he said.

"So I worked on the original photo: fake smile, face retouch, face quality and all I did with help of these three programs: Photoshop, FaceApp and Remini."