This photo shows a blast in Pakistan's Lahore in 2017
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on September 24, 2021 at 10:10
- 2 min read
- By Wasi MIRZA, AFP Pakistan
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"A bomb blast near the northern city of Lahore has killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers," reads a Persian-language tweet posted on September 22.
It shows a photo of smoke rising from a building and cars with smashed windows and covered in dust parked outside.
Similar reports were shared alongside the identical photo on Twitter here, here and here and on Facebook here, here and here.
However, the posts are misleading.
A reverse image search found the same photo posted here on February 23, 2017 by Pakistan government's official Facebook page.
"In Lahore, six people were killed and fifteen injured in an explosion in under constriction building at Y Block of Defence area of the city today," the post reads.
Below is a screenshot comparing the image in the misleading posts (left) with the one posted by the Pakistan government account in 2017 (right).
The photo was also posted here in 2017 by Pakistani news outlet The Express Tribune.
"Initially, there was confusion about the nature of the explosion at Z-Block of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), which is replete with upscale boutiques and cafés, but more than eight hours later the police concluded it was an accidental blast caused by gas cylinders," The Express Tribune reported.
None of the deaths reported at the time were of soldiers.
AFP found no credible reports of a bomb blast in Lahore in September 2021.
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