Picture shows the 2024 Indian aircraft crash instead of “Pakistan shot down”
Pakistan says it has shot down On May 7, 2025, among the worst violence among nuclear-weapon neighbors in decades, five Indian jets have been seen, but the image of aircraft burning wreckage widely shared online predates the current crisis. The image previously released a report on the fighter jets that the Indian Air Force said it had collapsed due to technical problems in a September 2024 news report.
“Pakistan media reveals two Indian aircraft shot down by Pakistan,” a Thai Facebook post shared on May 7, 2025.
The post includes an image of a crashed jet.
Screenshot of False Facebook post, taken on May 7, 2025
India and Pakistan launched deadly missile strikes in New Delhi in its arch competition, the worst violence between nuclear-weapon neighbors in two decades (archived link), with India and Pakistan exchanging heavy artillery fire on their competing borders.
At least 43 people were reportedly killed, with Islamabad saying 31 civilians were killed by Indian strikes and opened fire along the border, while at least 12 more people died in Pakistani shelling.
In New Delhi, blaming Islamabad for supporting the fatal attack on controversial Indian management in Kashmir (Pakistan allegations) deny that violence escalated.
Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets were shot down on the border. A senior Indian security source who asked not to be named said three of its fighter jets had crashed in their home country.
The image is also shared in similar posts written in Thai, English and Bengali and appears in several reports from local Pakistani media as well as from American Muslim Network TV.
However, reverse image search resulted in AFP embedding corresponding clips in an article published by Indian news media, today on September 2, 2024 (archive link).
According to the article, the jet crashed in the Bamer area of Rajasthan during a regular night training mission.
Comparison of fake shared images (left) and screenshots of clips from India Today’s article (right)
Indian broadcaster NDTV's report on the incident also had a similar visual effect of burning aircraft (archive link).
“In regular night training missions in the Bamer area, the IAF MIG-29 encountered a critical technical obstacle that forced the pilot to eject,” the Indian Air Force wrote on X the next day.
“The pilot is safe and has not reported any loss of life or property. An investigation has been ordered for the court.”
Here, here and here, the Afghanistan debunked other misinformation after the Kashmir attack.
