On March 11, when Baloch separatists hijacked trains in southwestern Pakistan, social media users shared footage of a fire, falsely claiming it portrayed a two-day fatal attack that killed dozens of people. In fact, the video shows an unrelated incident in Karachi, the largest city in South Asia.
“BLA militants burned trains in Bal Luzhi Province, and they Shooting More than 100 passengers are worth.
When Baloch separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, it was a two-day siege, officials said 60 people died around the incident, half of which were carried out (a link to archive) and half of the officials were officials, the post surfaced.
The attack was claimed by the Baloch People’s Liberation Army (BLA), one of many separatist groups, accusing outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balluchistan province near the border with Afghanistan and Iran.
Screenshot Facebook post taken on March 17, 2025
Similar posts on Facebook and X also misrepresent videos of people watching large pillars of fire from the roadside when a train attacks.
However, using keyframes in clips to perform reverse image search on Google, resulting in March 10 Report contains similar visuals from Pakistan broadcaster Geo News About the fire near Mount Gur in Karachi – Memal (Archive link).
Comparison of screenshots of fake posts (left) and GEO TV report (right)
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper also reported the fire on the same day. It said a gas cylinder exploded in a restaurant, triggering a fire in more than 100 stores in the area, but did not cause death (a link to archive).
The emergency rescue service in Sindh, where Karachi is located, also shared videos of the fire on Facebook (archive link).
Comparison of screenshots of fake posts (L) and corresponding videos in Sindh Emergency Rescue Services
The visual effect of a train siege from Pakistani troops has no roads near the rails, unlike the loop clip (archive link).
“The incident site is a rough terrain, far from the population. The road is 21 km from the train site,” Army spokesman Lieutenant Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters.
Screenshots of the train attack location shared by Pakistani army
AFP debunked other misinformation related to the train attack.
