Old Visuals Showing A Child Sitting On Slain Grandfather’s Body Falsely Linked To Pahalgam Terror Attack

At least 26 people were killed in the Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday (April 22, 2025) after a group of terrorists, allegedly belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), opened fire. 

As the news of the attack spread, a distressing visual, showing a child sitting on the dead body of his relative purportedly slain by the terrorists, is going viral on social media platforms. Other videos showed the same child crying inconsolably in a moving car as he was seemingly being taken away to safety. Multiple users shared the video and image, linking it to the Pahalgam terror attack. Newschecker, however, found the video to be old and unrelated to the recent attack. 

Such posts can be seen here, here and here.

Also Read: Pahalgam – Viral Photo Showing Victims Of Terror Attack Is AI-Generated

Fact Check/Verification

We skimmed through the comment sections of social media posts carrying the viral clip and found multiple users pointing out that the video relates to an old incident of another terror attack in Sopore. 

Taking a clue, we looked up keywords “child”, “crying”, “Sopore” and “attack” on Google which led us to a video report by India Today, dated July 1, 2020, featuring similar images of a child – in similar clothes as seen in the viral clip.

“Security Forces rescued a three-year-old boy who was sitting beside his grandfather who was shot down by terrorists is indeed heartbreaking in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore on Wednesday,” it stated. 

A laterally-inverted version of the viral clip showing a child crying inconsolably inside the vehicle was also shared by news agency ANI on July 1, 2020. It corroborated that the child was rescued during a terrorist attack in Sopore. 

Detailing the terror attack in Sopore on July 1, 2020, a report by The Hindu stated, “A CRPF soldier and a civilian were killed and three soldiers injured as militants started attacking from a mosque in north Kashmir’s Sopore…A CRPF spokesman told The Hindu that the militants, hiding in the attic of the mosque, fired at the personnel of the CRPF’s 179 Battalion around 7.30 a.m.”

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The report added that a civilian, identified as Bashir Ahmed Khan, from Srinagar’s HMT area, was found dead near the site. Khan was with his three-year-old grandson in a vehicle when bullets hit him.

Khan’s family had accused the security forces for his death “My father was brought down from the vehicle and shot dead by the security forces,” his daughter had alleged.

The then Kashmir Zone Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar had however denied these allegations, saying, “It is totally baseless. The son and the daughter have made these allegations under militant threat. If there are any eyewitnesses, let them come forward.”

Multiple outlets such as this, this and this reported on the same. 

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Conclusion

Hence, the viral post claiming to show a child sitting on the dead body of a relative killed in the recent Phalagam terror attack was found to be from a different incident from Sopore, dating back to 2020. 

Sources
YouTube Video By India Today, Dated July 1, 2020
YouTube Video By ANI, Dated July 1, 2020
Report By The Hindu, Dated July 1, 2020