Old Photos of Kazakhstan Nuclear Site Falsely Circulated As Pakistan’s Kirana Hills

After a ceasefire was called to halt the military escalation between India and Pakistan triggered by Operation Sindoor, several social media users claimed that one of the targets of India’s strike on May 9, 2025, following which the Pakistani side reached out for a ceasefire, was the Kirana Hills, which is believed to house Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Following intense speculations, the Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, in a press conference on May 12, 2025, clarified that the Indian armed forces did not target any nuclear storage sites. 

In this context, many users, such as @iPandit_Pathak, posted three images on the X handle, claiming that personnel from the US Department of Energy were spotted near Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, the area allegedly struck by India on May 9.

Archive links of such claims can be seen here and here.

Fact Check/ Verification

The first image depicts several individuals wearing face masks emerging from what appears to be an underground facility. A Google Lens search revealed that the image was originally taken from a blog post written by Carl Willis on August 13, 2012, and published on WordPress.com. The blog detailed a visit to Kazakhstan’s Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, which served as the primary location for Soviet nuclear weapons testing between 1949 and 1989.

A similar search on the second image, which shows several individuals dressed in protective white suits, masks, and helmets emerging from a cave-like structure, revealed that it was previously used in a report published on the Kazakhstan government website on August 27, 2021. The report, titled “Photo Exhibition Dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the Closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site,” featured the same image.

Similarly, a Google Lens search of the third image shows that it was used in a report published by ABC News on August 13, 2015. The article, titled “The Polygon: Former Soviet Union Nuclear Test Site on Kazakh Steppe Now Open for Tours,” identifies the image as an underground bunker once used to monitor nuclear tests during the Soviet era.

Hence, it is clear that the viral post claiming to show personnel from the US Department of Energy inspecting the alleged blast site at Kiran’s hills in Pakistan is false. The images actually depict the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan, a facility formerly used by the Soviet Union. 

Soures
Report by WordPress.com, dated August 13, 2012
Report by the Kazakhstan government website, dated August 27, 2021
Report by the ABC News, dated August 13, 2015