Video from Sudan shared as visuals of Pakistan’s Noor Khan airbase after Indian attack

In a press briefing on May 11, 2025, chiefs of the Indian army, air force and navy shared details on Operation Sindoor. During the briefing, Air Marshal AK Bharti said India destroyed airbases and radar centres in Sukkur, Rafiqui, Rahim Yar Khan, Chaklala (Noor Khan), Bholari, Sargodha and Jacobabad in response to Pakistani attacks.

Soon after this, a video began circulating on social media with claims that these showed the destruction at the Noor Khan (Chaklala) airbase. The airbase is located in the Rawalpindi area, around 10 kilometres from Islamabad.

X user Karma Yogi (@karma2moksha) shared the video and wrote, “Pakistan’s Noor Khan Airbase. As per the shared video, the damage is huge.” (Archive)

Several other X handles, including @munish_pat1980, @amjaviya and @Yashwant_Saroha also shared the video with the same claim.

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Fact Check

On looking at the viral video closely, Alt News noticed that there were only passenger planes and nothing resembling a fighter jet on the tarmac. At the 00:52-minute mark in the video, the word ‘Sudan’ can be seen on the tail of one of the planes.

We performed a reverse image search using a few frames of the viral clip and found the same video uploaded on Instagram by a user named ‘@africanaviators_official’ on March 31, 2025. The caption of the post said these were tragic scenes from Khartoum International Airport in Sudan that show a large number of aircraft being destroyed during clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in May 2023. It also says that the Sudanese army took back control of the Khartoum International Airport from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

A longer version of this video was shared by X handle @smutoro on March 31. The post said that the Khartoum Airport was destroyed by RSF fighters. At the 04:31-minute mark in the video, the words ‘Blue Bird Aviation Company Limited’ can be seen on the damaged plane as well as on the signboard of an aircraft workshop. Blue Bird Aviation is a private airline company from Sudan established in 1989. Thus there is ample evidence that the video is from Sudan and not Pakistan.

According to a report published by Al Jazeera on March 26, the Sudanese army recaptured Khartoum International Airport from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in March 2025, two years after the war.

To sum up, this viral video shows an airport destroyed in a clash during the civil uprising in Sudan, not Pakistan. Social media users wrongly shared it as scenes from Pakistan’s Noor Khan airbase after it was destroyed by the Indian armed forces.