This is an old photo shared in reports about an Iraq mosque destroyed in 2014
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"The first mosque in Pakistan was launched into space with the help of the Taliban, the congratulations shouldn't stop," reads a Hindi-language tweet posted on August 21.
The tweet shows a photo of smoke billowing from a tall building.
The photo was shared in similar posts here and here on Twitter and here, here and here on Facebook.
However, the claim is false.
A reverse image search on Google found the same photo in news reports about a mosque explosion in Mosul, northern Iraq in 2014.
IraqiNews featured the photo in a report on July 6, 2014 about militants from the Islamic State group targeting mosques in Mosul.
British newspaper The Independent also published the photo in a report from July 14, 2014, where the image is captioned, "The Shia Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque in Mosul explodes" and credited to AP news agency.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Twitter post (left) and the photo in the news report by The Independent (right).
Keyword searches found the photo published in a Huffington Post report from July 7, 2014, alongside a similar photo of the same mosque exploding.
The image caption reads, "In this undated photo posted on a militant website that frequently carries official statements from the Islamic State extremist group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, Shiite’s Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul, Iraq".
The photo was not available in AP's archives.
AFP did not find any credible news reports about an explosion at a mosque in Pakistan by the Taliban.
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