PIB Fact Check unit debunks fake claims of last rites of IAF Rafale pilot

NEW DELHI: The fact check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) exposed another social media claim on Thursday, spreading a false narrative on Indian casualties in Operation Sindoor.

Several Pakistan-based accounts circulated images on social media claiming that they show the last rites of an Indian Air Force Rafale pilot who allegedly died on May 7.

However, the PIB fact-checking unit debunked this claim as “completely false” and clarified that the image is actually from 2008 and bears no relation to the claim.

An old image is going viral on social media, with many Pakistan-based accounts claiming that it shows the last rites of a Rafale pilot of the #IndianAirForce who died on 7 May 2025.#PIBFactCheck

This claim is completely fake.

The image is actually from 2008 and… pic.twitter.com/bud4awxcRP

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 14, 2025

“An old image is going viral on social media, with many Pakistan-based accounts claiming that it shows the last rites of a Rafale pilot of the #IndianAirForce who died on 7 May 2025. This claim is completely fake. The image is actually from 2008 and unrelated to the current context”, PIB fact-checking unit wrote on X.

The PIB fact-check unit also attached a link to a CNN article on ‘India’s burning issue with emissions from Hindu funeral pyres’ with the same image. The image caption stated that the picture shows Hindus paying their respects at a mass cremation of 15 schoolgirls on the banks of the River Orsang in Bamroli, Gujarat, on April 16, 2008.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 as a decisive military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

India used Rafale jets armed with SCALP missiles and HAMMER bombs to target nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on May 7. The Indian Air Force completed the mission in just 23 minutes without any losses, exposing the weaknesses of Pakistan’s air defence systems, the sources said.

After the attack, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir as well as attempted drone attacks along the border regions, following which India launched a coordinated attack and damaged radar infrastructure, communication centres and airfields across 11 airbases in Pakistan. After this, on May 10, an understanding of the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan was announced. (ANI)