Fact-check: No, this blast video isn't from Pakistan — it's from Syria
The clip was first posted by Sky News Arabia on March 18, 2025
Updated Friday Apr 18 2025
A short video that has been viewed over 200,000 times on social media allegedly shows a powerful bomb detonating at the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi.
The claim is false. The footage is not from Pakistan.
Claim
On March 23, a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) shared a 23-second video clip showing people fleeing from a burning structure. The caption, written in Hindi, translates to: “Massive blast at Pakistani army headquarters in Pakistan, 20 Pakistani soldiers burnt to ashes.”
At the time of writing, the post had garnered over 128,000 views and nearly 4,000 likes.
Similar posts also surfaced on Facebook and Instagram.
Fact
In reality, the video shows an explosion in Syria, not Pakistan.
Geo Fact Check conducted a reverse image search using keyframes from the video. The clip was traced back to a Sky News Arabia report dated March 18, 2025, which confirms that the footage shows a fuel depot explosion in Douma, near Damascus, the capital of Syria. The Sky News report can be viewed here.
On the same day, Al Jazeera Syria also reported on the explosion. Read their news report here.
Furthermore, no credible Pakistani media outlet reported any such incident involving an explosion at the army’s headquarters.
Verdict: The video circulating on social media showing a massive explosion was recorded in Syria in March 2025. It is unrelated to Pakistan and falsely claims to depict an attack on the Pakistan Army.
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