Old Image of 2008 Marriott Hotel Blast Falsely Shared as Recent Attack

Since early October 2025, tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated along their shared border, particularly near the Torkham, Chaman, and Kurram crossings. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 18 individuals have been killed and over 360 injured due to military clashes between October 10 and 16 Reuters. The violence intensified with airstrikes in Kandahar and Kabul, leading to over a dozen civilian casualties and widespread displacement Reuters. Both nations have since agreed to a temporary ceasefire, though the situation remains fragile.

Meanwhile, an old image from the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing, Islamabad is being widely circulated among social media users as a recent attack targeting Marriott Hotel and killing dozens.

You can see few Facebook posts below: 

Facebook Post  Archived Link 

The social media post mentions: 

“The attack on Islamabad’s Mert Hotel has so far k!||€d 12 🇵🇰i Army officers, and the fighting is still ongoing.

#Islamabad”

However, Fact Crescendo’s findings show that an old image from 2008 Marriot hotel bombing ha been falsely shared as recent attack on Marriot hotel and killing dozens. 

Fact Check 

According to media reports, tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated in October 2025 due to cross-border attacks and militant activity. Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika province killed several militants, while Afghan forces reported retaliatory strikes killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers. The clashes led to border closures, disrupted trade, and displacement of civilians, despite an October 19 ceasefire brokered by Qatar.

Also there are no media reports supporting the social media claims of 12 Pakistani Army soldiers being killed in an attack in Marriot hotel, Islamabad. 

For further investigation, we applied google reverse image search on the image shared by social media users. The reverse image search led us to 2008 merrirot hotel bombings. 

The 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on September 20, 2008, when a truck carrying explosives detonated at the hotel entrance, killing at least 54 people and injuring over 260 (Wikipedia). The blast caused extensive damage, including a large crater and fires, and targeted a hotel frequented by diplomats and Pakistan’s elite. Among the victims was the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, Dr. Ivo Žďárek. The attack was linked to extremist groups, prompting Pakistan and international partners to intensify counterterrorism operations (The Guardian).

Conclusion

Hence, from the above investigation, it is clear that an old image from 2008 car bombing targeting Marriott hotel is being falsely shared as a recent terror attack on the hotel killing several Army officers.