Halloween costume photo falsely linked to Pakistan armed attack

"Shia genocide in Pakistan. This is the medical overcoat of Dr. Ruqia Najaf, a Shia Muslim doctor at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan, who was among 4 people killed by 'unknown persons' after verifying their Shia identity in Parachinar region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," reads part of a post shared on social media platform X on January 9, 2024.

The post includes an image showing a white shirt with what appears to be bloodstains.

It circulated after reports emerged of an armed attack on a minibus that according to local newspaper Dawn killed four people in Parachinar town, the capital of Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to a BBC Urdu report, one of those killed is a nursing student named Ruqia Najaf (archived link).

The post appears to refer to sectarian tensions that stretch back decades in Kurram district, where a long-simmering row between Sunni and Shiite Muslims had previously erupted into deadly violence.

Shiite Muslims make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan's population of more than 220 million, but they are a majority in Kurram. 

Similar posts with the image have also been shared elsewhere on X here and here as well as on TikTok.

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A screenshot of the false post taken on January 29, 2024 by AFP

However, reverse image searches on Google found the image had been initially shared in a blogpost on October 7, 2012, more than a decade before the Kurram attack (archived link).

The blogpost that originally featured the image is titled "GPE's Mad Scientist Halloween Costume". The author says it shows a costume they created for their grandson.

The "mad scientist" post was also shared on Pinterest here (archived link). 

The post author also shared a series of steps for readers to create the costume. The author said they used a child's lab coat, latex gloves, red colourant, sponges, plastic tubes and plastic spiders.

Other pictures of the lab coat featured in the post can be seen below:

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Additional pictures of the costume in the blogpost

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A picture of the costume from the back

The blog that shared the image is called "Denise’s Yadda Yadda on Soap Making, Crafts & Personal Ramblings" and generally posts DIY crafts and soapmaking. It has also posted similar Halloween-themed posts here and here (archived links here and here)

The author also shared another version of a mad scientist costume, this one using green slime here (archived link).

Pakistan media organisation Soch Fact Check had previously debunked the claim here (archived link).