Fact Check: Old Picture Of Indian Embassy Attack In Kabul Goes Viral As Recent 

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A collage of two pictures showing a damaged building is going viral on social media. Users are claiming that the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was recently attacked, and these images depict the incident.

Vishvas News, in its investigation, found that the viral claim is misleading. The first picture dates back to the 2009 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, while the second picture is related to the 2017 attack on the German Embassy in Kabul. Apart from this, no credible reports have been found confirming any recent attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

What is in the viral post?

Sharing the viral post, the Facebook user wrote, “Cowardly attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul. Every Indian’s heart is beating for those braves who put their lives on the line for the country. Our fight against terrorism will continue.”

See the archived version of the post here.

Investigation

To begin our investigation, we first sought to verify whether any recent attack had occurred on the Indian Embassy in Kabul. A thorough news search yielded no reliable reports on this matter. Continuing the investigation, we scanned the Indian Embassy’s social media handles on Facebook and X, where we found the most recent post dated August 2021.

We reviewed the official website of the Indian Embassy in Kabul but found no information regarding any recent attack.

Taking the investigation forward, we decided to investigate both the pictures used in the viral post separately.

First photo

We used Google Lens to search the first photo and found it on the photo agency Alamy.com. According to the information given with the photo here, “Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visiting the Indian Embassy with Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad. This embassy was the target of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.” The photo was taken on Friday, October 9, 2009.

We also came across a related news report on the CBS website, dated October 2009, “On Friday, October 9, 2009, a bomb blast near the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, destroyed the building. The Taliban has taken responsibility for the suicide car bomb blast in the capital of Afghanistan on Thursday and said that their target was the embassy.”

Second photo

On searching the second photo through Google Lens, we found it uploaded on the NBC News website on July 1, 2017. According to the information, this photo is of the German Embassy in Kabul.

Based on this, we furthered our investigation and found this photo in an article published on the German website Deutsche Welle (DW). Here, the description with the photo stated that it is related to the attack on the German Embassy in Kabul on May 31, 2017.

According to the Voice of America report on this matter, “On May 31, 2017, an explosion took place near the German Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.”

To verify the viral post, we contacted Afghanistan journalist Javed Tanvir and shared the viral post with him. He confirmed that there has been no recent attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

Lastly, we scanned the Facebook profile of the user who shared the fake post and found that the user had around 35 followers at the time of writing the report.

Conclusion: Vishvas News, in its investigation, found that the viral claim is misleading. The first picture dates back to the 2009 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, while the second picture is related to the 2017  attack on the German Embassy in Kabul. Additionally, no official or credible sources have reported any recent attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

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• Indian Embassy attacked in Kabul
• Indian Embassy In Kabul
• Kabul Embassy Attack