Republic TV Runs Video Game Clip As Pakistani Airforce Attacking Panjshir

Republic TV and Hindi News channel Zee Hindustan ran footage from the video game Arma-3 as visuals from the ongoing military conflict between resistance fighters in Panjshir valley, Afghanistan and the Taliban claiming that it showed Pakistani airforce attacking the anti-Taliban fighters.

The channel aired the footage stating that is from Hasti TV and shows airstrikes by Pakistani drones in Panjshir valley against resistance fighters. After the fall of Kabul on August 15, several anti-Taliban fighters and the remnants of the Afghan army amassed in Panjshir valley under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud and have been holding out in the province putting up a fight against the Taliban.

Also Read:India Today Airs Old Photo Of US Jet Crash As Pak Jet Downed In Panjshir

The broadcast is in the backdrop of the Taliban claiming that they had captured Panjshir Valley on Monday. Several Indian news outlets have reported the Pakistani military particularly its air force is helping the Taliban against resistance fighters in Panjshir.

Republic TV posted the video with the caption, "Pakistan army supporting Taliban against Northern Alliance in Panjshir". During the broadcast, the anchor can be heard repeating the claim that the footage shows airstrikes in Panjshir and claiming that it shows Pakistani airstrikes.

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The same video was earlier posted by Hasti TV, whose bio stated that is an Afghan TV channel in the United Kingdom catering to the needs of the Afghan/Persian diasporas in the UK and around the World.

It had posted the video with the caption, which when translated reads, "A video that we just received from Panjshir shows that a Pakistani military airplane is flying over Panjshir. Until now, the official sources have not approved this video."

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Zee Hindustan also broadcasted the same video at 12.07 pm stating that it showed Pakistan bombing Panjshir valley.

You can watch the full broadcast here

Times Now Navbharat also aired the same viral video claiming it showed Pakistani airstrikes in Panjshir.

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The same video was tweeted by Faran Jeffrey, from his handle (@natsecjeff). Jeffrey who is based in the United Kingdom, describes himself as an expert in reporting and analysing terror incidents and conflicts, tweeted the video with the caption, "EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE showing Pakistani drone attacking rebel targets in Panjshir. #Afghanistan".

Jeffery in his next tweet stated that, " Fun fact: The video is from a video game and is currently being shared by pro-resistance accounts as proof of claims that Pakistani drones are attacking Panjshir..."

Also Read: Zee Hindustan Runs Old Video As Minors Fighting Taliban In Panjshir

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral video is from the video game Arma-3 and is not from the ongoing military conflict between the Resistance fighters and the Taliban, in Panjshir.

On performing several keyword searches, we found that the viral video has been taken from a longer video from Arma-3 that was uploaded on YouTube back in January 2021 stating that it is from the video game.

The video can be seen below, and it was uploaded on January 1, 2021, with the caption, "ArmA 3 - A-10 Warthog vs Anti-Air Tank - Missiles and Tracers firing - GAU-8 Avenger - Simulation".

From the 1.38 minutes timestamp till the 2 minutes timestamp, on zooming, we can spot the exact same sequence of events as in the viral video that was aired by Republic TV and Zee Hindustan.

On comparing both the visuals we can spot that they are the same. On zooming in, we spot the same pattern of firing towards the plane.

BOOM has been debunking viral misinformation and disinformation since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. You can view our fact-check articles in the thread below.

Note: This story has been updated to include Times Now Navbharat who also ran the clip