The Wall St. Journal and several other media organizations reported this morning that ISIS attacked a convoy of prisoners being transported by Iraqi official forces from one prison in the Babil province (just south of Baghad) to another one further south in the province. The reports claim roughly 71 prisoners, 5 police and 5 insurgents were killed. From the WSJ:

Rebels of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham struck the convoy in Babil province on the main highway leading south from Baghdad. In the exchange of fire that followed, at least 71 prisoners in police custody, five policemen and five insurgents were killed, security officials said.

I've been following this story since this morning because it doesn't add up that ISIS, which is known for freeing scores of inmates -- who then join their cause -- would kill inmates held on terror charges in an Iraqi prison. That's like killing your own.

Another report says only 4 prisoners were killed and 10 ISIS members were killed.

On Twitter, the first reporter I saw writing about it says corpses were found, which suggests they weren't killed in live battle, but left for dead. ISIS supporters on Twitter say Malaki's army forces killed the prisoners. (Article in Arabic here, use Google Translate.) Another tweet here.

The BBC reported the prisoners were all accused of terrorism and being transferred for security reasons.

The prison from which they were being transferred, is reportedly known as the Scorpion prison (Rapid Reaction Brigade 3rd Division) and is one that detains alleged terrorists.

Sure enough, the New York Times now reports:

Shiite policemen were believed to have killed at least 69 Sunni insurgent prisoners on a highway....

The Telegraph was more cautious in reporting it wasn't clear who killed the prisoners or how they died. But it still reported "insurgent forces" attacked the Iraqi military convoy, as if it were uncontested.

Malaki's forces have made several sweeps against ISIS in Babil in recent months. In March, there was a suicide bombing near Hilla that killed 57. No one claimed credit, but the local police claimed al Qaeda/ISIS were responsible:

No one claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, but the deputy chairman of Hilla provincial council, Aqeel al-Rubaie, accused al Qaeda of being behind the bombing. Rubaie said the local government had received tips that al Qaeda-affiliates hiding in farmland north of Hilla were plotting a strike.

He said the violence was a spillover from fighting in neighboring Anbar, where the Shi'ite-led government has been battling the al Qaeda faction the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) around the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. "We have evidence that al Qaeda terrorists are standing behind the suicide attack today and since the breakout of fighting in Anbar, al Qaeda has stepped up attacks in Hilla," Rubaie told Reuters.

Another article this morning said an investigation is underway into who killed the Iraqi prisoners.

It occurred early in the day when gunmen attacked a convoy of buses carrying dozens of inmates, transferred from a prison by the army unit of al-Aqrab Brigade in the provincial capital of Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, to the one in the town of al-Qasim, some 35 km south of Hilla, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding that five gunmen were killed and five guards were wounded.

It was not immediately clear who killed these prisoners, the source said, adding an investigation was underway.

Al-Aqrab Brigade is a special force unit responsible for maintaining security in Babil province, particularly in the north of an area known as the Triangle of Death, a cluster of Sunni towns scattered north of the predominantly Shiite province of Babil.

Radio Free Iraq had this oblique tweet:

#Babil. Province Council decides June 23 to dry out northern lake & swamp landscape used as hideouts by militants (#ISIS #ISIL)

ISIS freed prisoners at the Baquba prison a few weeks ago, and the Tasfirat prison in Tikrit. Today they freed inmates at a prison in Hit.

One thing that really upset ISIS was when they went to free inmates at a prison (I think it was Tal a far) and when they got there, scores of them were dead in their cells, having been killed by the army or guards, before they fled. I'm not posting the link to the pictures, they are too graphic.

A similar incident occurred at Baquba prison.

At least 44 prisoners were killed during a militant assault on a prison in the city of Baquba last week.

Accounts differed as to who was responsible for the Baquba killings, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman saying the prisoners were killed by insurgents carrying out the attack, and other officials saying they were killed by security forces as they tried to escape.

I don't know who killed the inmates, I suspect they were killed at the prison by the army and then being driven down the highway to the place their bodies were dumped. They were in several cars, and I doubt so many would die in shootout while they were in the cars. But its one thing to cite unconfirmed biased reports, and another to state them as fact.

ISIS needs to be stopped from taking over the the Middle East, but it doesn't help things when its enemies commit mass murder of prison inmates and then claim ISIS did it, and then use global media to spread the lie. Lazy or even over-worked media organizations that fail to fact check and spread the unconfirmed reports as fact need to be called out.

Another source to cross off your reading list: Press.TV which has been promoting this report on Twitter all day.