Amid the recent border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a clip showing a massive fire in an open space has gone viral on social media.
Those sharing claimed that the Taliban shot down Pakistan's jets on the Durand Line.
Along with the video, some users also shared an image of a woman dressed in a military uniform and claimed that Pakistan lost a 'female three-star general,' in combat against Afghanistan.
(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)
Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false.
The viral video dates back to 2022 and shows an Indian Air Force MiG-21 jet that crashed in a village, located in the Barmer, Rajasthan.
Team WebQoof found no credible reports or visuals to prove that the woman in the viral image was a part of Pakistan's army or killed in the armed clashes.
What we found: We checked the two claims separately and found teh following.
Viral video: At first, we divided the clip into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.
It led us to the same video uploaded by the Economic Times' YouTube channel on 28 July 2022.
The video's title noted, "MiG-21 crash: Both pilots dead; IAF chief briefs Defence minister Rajnath about the incident" (sic.)
Its description mentioned that the crash happened in near Barmer district in Rajasthan and both pilots lost their lives.
The Indian Air Force's official X account also posted information about the MiG crash and the fatal injuries suffered by the pilots on 28 July 2022.
As per an India Today report from 2022, Wing Commander Mohit Rana (39) and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal (26) lost their lives in the aircraft crash in Barmer.
Clearly, the viral video is from India and not linked to the recent Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes.
Viral image: At first, we ran a Google and Yandex image search on the picture but did not find any credible results proving that the claim was true.
We, then, looked up the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) Pakistan's X page to look for information about the alleged death of the 'female three-star general.'
The page had no information about the viral image.
However, we found a post where it mentioned that eleven Pakistani soldiers died in combat against the Afghan forces between 7 and 8 October.
Additionally, we compared the uniform of the woman in the viral image with the uniform adorned by a 'three-star general' in Pakistan and found some differences.
We compared the viral image with Lieutenant General (or three-star general) Faiz Hameed's image.
Team WebQoof looked at the viral image closely and found that important badges such as the three stars and the army tag were missing.
While, we could not find the original source of the viral image, it is clear that it does not show a Pakistani general who died in the recent clashes with Afghanistan.
Conclusion: Both claims are false as the viral video dates back to 2022 and is from Rajasthan, India. Whereas, users have falsely shared the viral image to claim that it shows a female soldier who died in the clashes with Afghanistan.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)