Fact Check: 2017 video of Indian troops destroying Pakistani bunker falsely shared as military strike in PoK under 'Operation Sindoor'
An undated from 2017 showing the Indian Army targeting Pakistani bunkers is being falsely shared as recent footage from the 'Operation Sindoor' strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
Days after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, Indian Army targetted terror camps of banned organisations Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen under 'Operation Sindoor' on Tuesday night.
As part of the military strikes, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a “focused, measured and non-escalatory” operation on the terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
According to PTI, a total of nine terror camps were targetted which include Markaz Subhan Allah at Bahawalpur, Sarjal at Tehra Kalan, Markaz Abbas in Kotli and Syedna Bilal camp in Muzaffarabad (belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group), Markaz Taiba at Murdike, Markaz Ahle Hadith at Barnala and Shawai Nalla camp at Muzaffarabad (belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba) and Markaz Raheel Shahid in Kotli and Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot (belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen).
In the wake of Indian Armed Forces’ ‘Operation Sindoor’ on terror hideouts, social media platforms are flooded with several old and unrelated videos and claims. Meanwhile, a video showing the destruction of a probable bunker is being shared as part of military strikes in PoK region. The viral video is being shared with this caption, “The brave Indian Army knows how to flush out terrorists from a bunker.”
The viral claim link is here and the archive link here.
Here’s the screenshot of the viral post.
Fact Check:
During the investigation, the Telugupost fact check team found the claim made in the viral post was found to be misleading.
We began our investigation by extracting the keyframes of the viral video and ran them through Google Reverse image search tool. We found several videos matching the viral content.
A similar video was posted by a user (@M3t4_tr0n) on X on May 9, 2017 claiming that ‘Indian Army destroyed a Pakistani bunker along the Line of Control (LoC)’ but was unsure about the date.
Taking a cue from this information, we found a similar video shared by senior journalist Rahul Kanwal on his Facebook account on May 8, 2017 with this title, “Exclusive video : Indian Army smashes Pakistani bunkers in the Nowshera sector of Jammu.”
Around the same time, the Times of India also carried an article highlighting the same incident. Giving more details about the undated video, the news outlet wrote that the incident took place ‘last month’ following an unprovoked ceasefire violation from Pakistan.
Quoting an unnamed source, it said the “exact location” of the attack was not revealed due to security reasons. It also clarified that the attack was not in “retaliation of mutilation of soldiers incident.”
As we continued our search, we also found the same video on the YouTube channel of WION news outlet. The video was shared on May 8, 2017 with this description, “The bombing is a retaliation of ceasefire violation by Pakistan, according to various news organisations.”
The news was also covered by various media organisations such as India Today, NDTV and Deccan Chronicle.
According to the Deccan Chronicle, the retaliation came in response to the “May 1 intrusion in Kerni area of Poonch’s Krishna Ghati sector along the border during which Pakistan Army’s Border Action Team (BAT) beheaded two Indian jawans.”
It is evident from the media reports that a 2017 attack by Indian troops on a Pakistani bunker along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir by firing an anti-tank guided missile. It is not related to the latest ‘Operation Sindoor’ as the Indian Armed Forces launched the attacks on the terror facility location in the dead of night on May 7, 2025. Hence, the claim is misleading.