Outdated Image Claims the Taliban Bombed a Mosque in Pakistan
The Claim
The Taliban bombed a mosque in Pakistan.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media in English and more so in Hindi are circulating an image of a bombed mosque. The claim is that the mosque is in Pakistan and was bombed by the Taliban. The posts are all verbatim and say that with the Taliban's help in Pakistan, the first mosque has been launched into space.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: The Misbar investigation found the claim to be fake. The posts add that the mosque was “launched into space” and that “left NASA red-faced” indicating possible satire. However, the accompanying claim is fake and a reverse image search using Tin Eye revealed the image is from July 2014 as can be seen below.
Upon further investigation, multiple news articles were found which shared the original report of the image. Iraqi News site, the Huffington Post, and the BBC all reported on the incident. The Shia Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque is located in Mosul, northern Iraq. It is a sacred mosque for the Shia Muslim sect and was bombed by ISIS in 2014. A screenshot can be seen below. While the image is not dated the article is dated 8 July 2014.
Furthermore, there were no credible news reports of any mosques bombed in Pakistan by the Taliban. Given the finding the Misbar team concludes that the claim is fake, the image is unrelated to Pakistan and the Taliban, as it was taken in Iraq. There have been no confirmed reports of a mosque explosion in Pakistan. If it was intended as satire, it was distasteful and spreads misinformation, and fear in the fragile region.
