ISLAMABAD: Posts from several Indian accounts on social media platform X on Tuesday shared a video of a train explosion, claiming that it showed the attack on a Jaffar Express train that was hijacked by the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group the same day near Bolan district. However, the footage was of a January 2022 attack by the BLA on the Jaffar Express and unrelated to the current attack.
A day ago, terrorists attacked the Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar and took almost 400 passengers hostage, including around 200 security personnel.
The BLA claimed responsibility for the attack, which claimed the lives of at least 10 people, including the driver of the train.
On the other hand, security forces confirmed that they had launched an operation in the Dhadar area of Bolan Pass to rescue the hostages, killing at least 16 of the attackers.
The same day, an account on X, which is an Indian account based on the news updates shared on their feed, posted a video of a train being attacked and exploding near a mountainous area.
The post’s caption said, “Train hijack in Pakistan. Jaffar Express from Quetta to Peshawar hijacked after IED blast by Baloch rebels. BLA fighters have taken 182 people hostage after seizing the Jaffar Express. Eleven Pakistani soldiers have been killed.”
The video, which also features a BLA logo in the top right corner, received over 654,000 views and was shared 2,100 times.
Another Indian user, who according to their bio works as a sub-editor for far-right Indian media outlet OpIndia that is known to spread misinformation, shared the video with bullet points describing the details of and linking it to the Jaffar Express incident.
The user added the hashtags of “Balochistan”, “train hijack” and “Jaffar Express” to the post, which gained over 100,000 views.
The same video and claim were widely shared by several other Indian accounts as can be seen here, here, here, here and here, gaining over a combined 137,000 views.
Moreover, Chinese publications also reported on the attack and used visuals from the video as can be seen here, here and here.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, significant public interest and concern about the details and visuals of the attack and the manner in which the video was being shared by Indian accounts that was suggestive of online brigading.
A reverse image search yielded the same video in an X post, dated April 15, 2022. The post also mentioned BLA attacking security personnel as the caption said, “The BLA has apparently attacked a train carrying Pakistani soldiers.”
A further keyword search for more posts from that timeframe yielded another X post from the same date with the same video that said: “BLA has released footage of an IED attack on train carrying Frontier Corps near Sibi, Balochistan.”
A subsequent narrowed keyword search for the timeframe of early 2022 yielded a longer version of the video on Funker530, a website sharing combat footage and military news.
Per the website, the footage was originally released by the BLA, showing an improvised explosive device attack on a train, in the same area of Mashkaf as the recent attack, on January 18, 2022.
A keyword search to corroborate the incident yielded a January 19, 2022, news report titled: “Six passengers injured as bomb blast derails Jaffar Express”.
According to the report, the BLA had derailed four bogies of the Jaffar Express, leaving six passengers injured, via a bomb blast at a railway track near Sibi on January 18, 2022.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a video shows the recent BLA attack on a Jaffar Express train in Balochistan was misleading. The footage was of a BLA attack on the Jaffar Express in the same general area of Mashkaf but one that occurred in January 2022, not the recent attack. Omitting this crucial context about its original date had the potential to misguide the public and spread unnecessary panic and worry.
Multiple false claims
At the same time, iVerify Pakistan observed multiple other claims regarding the Jaffar Express attack and the operation of security forces against the BLA. Here are more claims that were debunked by the platform.
Video of army helicopter shooting down terrorists – FALSE
On March 12, a video was shared on X by an account that appeared to be a pro-military account, according to the profile photo and past posts, showing a helicopter shooting people and the sound of gunfire in the background, alleging that it showed footage of the operation against those involved in the Jaffar Express attack.
The post was viewed by more than 190,000 people.
The same video with the same claim was widely shared by other X users as can be seen here, here, here and here.
The claim was also circulated on Facebook.
However, a reverse image search led to a YouTube video uploaded on November 7, 2017, confirming that the footage was not from the current incident.
Another YouTube video was found that was uploaded on August 12, 2012, titled “Two Apaches kill a platoon of Taliban.”
A comparison of both videos confirmed that the footage was identical to the viral clip.
A keyword search for “Apache”, “Taliban” and “Afghanistan” led to a news report published by the UK-based news outlet Daily Mail on June 23, 2017, titled: “Did Putin show Oliver Stone a fake video? Russian president may have shown the director footage of US operations in Afghanistan, claiming it was Russian military film.”
According to the report, in Oliver Stone’s documentary series ‘The Putin Interviews’, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented a video on his phone, claiming it showed Russian aviation attacking militants in Syria. However, further analysis confirmed that the footage closely resembled a 2013 video of a US Apache helicopter engaging militants in Afghanistan.
The news report also referenced an X post featuring the same video under investigation.
A post on X on March 12 by an account that appeared to be a PML-N supporter based on their past posts alleged that PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja stated that party founder Imran Khan had ordered support for human rights activist Mahrang Baloch and the BLA. The post alleged that Imran knew in advance about the attack and hence had ordered the support.
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