Video shows Huthi fighters' drill, not ambush on Pakistan army
- Published on June 10, 2025 at 04:11
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
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"Chanting Allahu Akbar, BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) blew up the Pakistani army convoy," reads in parts the Hindi-language Facebook post shared on May 27, 2025.
The video shows a column of vehicles moving through a desert region when one of them suddenly explodes.
The footage spread with similar claims on Facebook and X after gunmen killed 26 people in an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir on April 22, which New Delhi blames on its neighbour. Islamabad denies the charge (archived link).
Four days of tense fighting broke out between the nuclear-armed foes in May -- claiming over 70 lives on both sides -- before they agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire (archived link).
The BLA is one of several separatist groups that accuse outsiders of plundering the Balochistan province's natural resources, and has been blamed for attacks in Pakistan.
Fighters from the group attacked a train with 450 passengers on board in March, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed (archived link).
In another attack, BLA rebels targeted a security vehicle with an improvised explosive device, killing seven Pakistani soldiers on May 6 (archived link).
Some users have linked the false video to "Operation Sindoor" -- India's name for its strikes on Pakistan.
"Balochistan too is probably running Operation Sindoor in Pakistan," one user commented.
Another wrote, "Indian people don't worry, we will continue operation Sindoor until we get our freedom."
But the original video actually shows an exercise by Huthi rebels in March 2024 in Yemen.
A Google reverse image search on keyframes from the false video led to a longer version that Saudi-owned TV station Al Arabiya uploaded on its YouTube channel on March 10, 2024 (archived link).
The video is captioned: "Watch: Huthi group conducts military manoeuvres simulating the storming of Israeli sites and targeting American and British forces".
An Arabic logo appearing at the bottom right corner of the YouTube video led to longer footage posted on Yemeni Military Media's X account on the same day (archived link).
Visuals at the 32:11 mark of the X post correspond with the clip shared in the false posts.
The X post also contains a link to a report that Yemeni Military Media -- an outlet affiliated with the Huthi movement -- uploaded on its website, which shares the same video (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the India-Pakistan conflict here.
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