Old Video of Pakistani aircraft crash shared with false claims amid Operation Sindoor

Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Indian armed forces’ military strike on May 7, a 17-second video went viral on social media. The clip shows a group of people gathered around the wreckage of a crashed aircraft. Several users shared the video claiming that Pakistan’s defence forces had shot down an Indian fighter jet near Bahawalpur and that the pilot was killed in the incident.

These visuals emerged in the wake of India’s “non-escalatory” strikes targeting nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Codenamed Operation Sindoor, the military action was launched in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, where 26 civilians were killed by terrorists allegedly linked to the Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

X account @CPEC_UPDATE posted the viral video of the aircraft remains on May 7 and alleged that the Pakistan forces had downed a Rafale near Bahawalpur and the pilot had been killed. Since this account has been withheld in India, a video has been added below, followed by a screenshot of the X post.