Old clip from Yemen passed off as visuals from India-Pakistan conflict

Published on May 28, 2025 at 04:09
3 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

Decade-old footage of a massive explosion has circulated in social media posts falsely claiming it shows an Indian attack on a nuclear facility in Pakistan. The video appeared in news reports about Saudi Arabia's strike on an arms depot near Yemen's capital city Sanaa in May 2015.

"Kirana Hills Pakistan (Radiation Risk)," reads the clip's Hindi-language caption shared on X on May 16, 2025.

The video shows thick plumes of smoke rising from a massive explosion at the foot of a mountain.

Screenshot of the false post taken on May 20, 2025

It surfaced after Indian media reported that strikes on Pakistani airbases near Kirana Hills sparked rumours that they had damaged an alleged nuclear facility in the area and caused a "radioactive leakage" (archived here and here).

Indian Air Marshal AK Bharti denied that they had targeted the site, while The Indian Express quoted a spokesperson for the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA saying the agency was not aware of radiation leaks from any nuclear facility in Pakistan (archived here and here ).

Fighting broke out between the nuclear-armed foes after an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people in April (archived link).

Four days of intense conflict between the neighbours killed 70 people before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10 (archived here and here).

The video circulated in similar posts on Facebook and X, but the footage predates the India-Pakistan conflict by a decade.

A reverse image search on Google found a Facebook page called "News of Yemeni Revolution" published the video on May 12, 2015 (archived link).

The post says it shows an explosion at Mount Noqum, along with a "Yemen" hashtag.

Screenshot comparison of the false clip (L) and the video uploaded on Facebook

The video surfaced after Saudi-led warplanes hit an arms depot at a military base at Mount Noqum in the outskirts of Yemen's capital Sanaa, setting off huge explosions and killing at least 69 people (archived link).

News channel Al Jazeera Mubasher uploaded a longer version of the clip on its verified YouTube channel on the same day with a description saying it shows the bombing of weapons depots in Sanaa (archived link).

Another user uploaded a clip showing the same explosion from another angle (archived link).

The outline of a mountain seen in the false video also matches that of Mount Noqum on Google Maps (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the mountain's outline seen in the false video (L) and Mount Noqum as seen on Google Maps

AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the conflict between India and Pakistan.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail