Pictures purporting to show mass executions of Iraqi soldiers were posted to a social media account in the name of Isis

Photographs posted on Twitter yesterday purported to show the recent abduction and killing by Isis of Iraqi men. They were on the same Twitter account as one that claimed last week that Isis had killed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers — but were the images doctored? Did these killings really happen? Is this just Isis propaganda, designed to terrify the Iraqi people?

The photographs appear to have been made as stills. Normally, this kind of image is of poorer quality. Usually we see very low resolution — moving footage shot on a camera phone from which still “grabs” are then taken.

The quality of these images raises doubts: the colour seems too good, the number of pixels is above expectation and exposure is accurate. On the other