A widely circulated image by social media users claimed that the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Pakistan was attacked by the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor.
However, BOOM found that the image is AI generated.
After the April 22 Pahalgam attack on Indian tourists, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, targeting at least nine terror bases in Pakistan in a retaliatory strike. The following days saw both nations embroiled in armed conflict, including air strikes and missile attacks. As tensions mounted, both sides agreed to a ceasefire on May 10. However, within hours of the agreement, ceasefire violations were reported along the border.
A verified Instagram user — whose false claims have been debunked by BOOM multiple times — shared the AI-generated image, falsely claiming it showed the Rawalpindi Stadium.
Fact-check
We looked into the claim about the Rawalpindi Stadium being destroyed and found a report by Hindustan Times mentioning an alleged drone attack just hours before a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match, amid the India-Pakistan conflict.
However, the report clearly stated that there was no official confirmation that the stadium was destroyed.
We also found a CNN report that showed some damage to the stadium after the attack, but none of the visuals matched the viral image.
Further, we ran a reverse image search of the viral image but found no credible source to support the claim.
We also compared the viral image with real photos of the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from stock photo websites like Shutterstock, iStock, Alamy, and social media and found that the viral image does not match the original appearance of the stadium.
We also ran the image on AI detector tools such as Hive Moderation and Was it AI, and found that the image is fabricated. As per Hive, the probability of the image being AI generated was 97.4 percent.