Claim: An image of a wounded girl has surfaced on social media, who was injured during the recent violence in Parachinar.
Fact: Although the violence in Kurram, which began on 21 November 2024, has reportedly since claimed over 80 lives, including those of women and children, and left more than a 100 injured, the viral image of an injured girl actually originated from Gaza. It was first published in news reports from December 2023.
On 21 November, X account @ThePashtunVoice shared an image (archive), writing, “#پاراچنار غزہ پاکستان پاراچنار
یہ تصویر فلسطین کے غزہ کی نہیں
بلکہ پاکستان کےغزہ کی پٹی ہے
اس بچے سمیت 11 شیر خوار بچوں کو ماں کی گودوں سے اٹھا کر ان کےمنہ میں گولیاں ماری گئی
یہ صیہونیوں نےنہیں کیا پاکستانیوں نے کیا ہے
#پاراچنار
#parachinar
#ParachinarBleeds”
[Translated from Urdu: Gaza Pakistan Parachinar
This picture is not of Gaza, Palestine
Rather, it is Pakistan’s Gaza Strip
11 infants, including this child, were taken from their mothers’ laps and shot in their faces
The Zionists did not do this, the Pakistanis did it]
What’s happening in Parachinar?
Since July, sectarian violence has escalated between Shia and Sunni tribes over land disputes in Kurram, a region bordering Afghanistan. According to Al Jazeera, on 21 November, gunmen opened fire on two separate convoys of Shia pilgrims travelling with police escorts in Kurram. The report further noted that no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The attacks occurred when the convoys were on their way from the district headquarters of Parachinar to Peshawar, according to Javedullah Mehsud, the deputy commissioner of Kurram.
Read more: Viral beheading video not related to recent Parachinar clashes
Provincial Minister Aftab Alam confirmed that 42 people were killed in the attack on Shia convoys in Kurram, with investigations underway to identify those responsible, according to the Associated Press. Witnesses reported intense violence, with four gunmen emerging from vehicles and opening fire on buses and cars, while others fired from nearby fields, the report stated. The assault lasted for about 40 minutes, leaving survivors hiding and helpless. Mir Hussain, a resident, informed AP that he heard the cries of women and desperate pleas for help during the attack.
Ibne Ali Bangash, a relative of one victim, told the AP that it was the saddest day in Kurram’s history, criticising the government for its failure to protect the community. Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader who spoke to the AP, accused authorities of neglecting security for the convoy of over 100 vehicles despite recent threats by militants targeting Shias in the region.
As of 21 November, The Khorasan Diary reported 44 deaths from the convoy attack, with the district control room confirming 44 bodies and 16 injuries. However, independent sources from Kurram indicated that the death toll has risen to 51, with around 81 injuries, two of which were soldiers, according to the TKD.
A 22 November report by Reuters quoted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, as saying that among the fatalities in the Kurram attack were a woman and a child. He described the incident as a major tragedy and added that the death toll is likely to rise.
Read more: Viral video of missile launches not linked to Parachinar
France 24 reported that the incident on 21 November sparked retaliatory attacks against Sunni residents and gunfights between groups from both sides in district Kurram. According to The Khorasan Diary, violence across Kurram resulted in at least 88 deaths and 102 injuries. On 24 November, the government mediated a seven-day ceasefire in the region, the France 24 report added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse-image search and found an Al Jazeera article titled, “Photos: Israel’s war on Gaza’s children,” from December 2023, which carried the viral image from the claim. According to the report, since 7 October, over 8,663 Palestinian children had been killed in Gaza due to Israeli bombardment, with thousands more missing under the rubble as of the time of publishing the article. Save the Children had reported then that a child was killed every 10 minutes, and the UN labelled Gaza as “a graveyard” for children, the December 2023 report added.
The 15/15 photograph in the article, credited to “Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency” showed an injured Palestinian girl who was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment following the Israeli army’s attack on Nasirat Refugee Camp in Deir el-Balah, Gaza on 21 December 2023.
The image was shared by other news outlets in December 2023 which also reported that it showed an injured Palestinian girl. Saheb Khabar, an Iranian publication, also published the image in January 2024 and reported that over 570,000 people, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population, were suffering from hunger due to the war and the shortage of food supplies according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
In April 2024, Wafa Agency, the official state-run news agency of the Palestinian National Authority, published the image in an article, reporting that the death toll from the ongoing war in Gaza had reached 33,729 at the time, with the majority of casualties being women and children, and more than 76,000 others had been wounded.
While we were unable to locate the image on Anadolu Agency’s website, which was credited for the image in Al Jazeera’s article, its widespread circulation in reports from credible outlets, confirmed that the photo is not from Parachinar.
Virality
The image was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on X. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Threads, it was shared here and here.
It was also shared here, here, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: While the recent attack on the convoy of pilgrims in Kurram resulted in significant casualties, which included children, the viral image of a wounded girl is actually from Gaza. It was first published in news reports from December 2023.
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Background image in cover photo: Associated Press
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