ISIS apologises for releasing Steven Sotloff beheading video early
Islamic State militants have issued an apology over the release of an horrific video apparently showing the beheading of American Journalist Steven Sotloff.
The apology, however, was not for the fearsome jihadist killing of the 31-year-old journalist who had been held hostage since being kidnapped in Syria in 2013.
It seems, instead, that someone released the video Mr Sotloff’s execution ahead of the pre-agreed time, according to Vocativ.
“A clarification about the mistake was made by “Uyun al-Ummah” account, that has published the video before the official time.” read a message posted by ISIS affiliates on Justpaste.
“The user saw a tweet with the video and thought it was published officially. We tried to remove the video after we understood that his was published by mistake, and we are sorry to the followers of the Islamic State”, the message continued.
The video was released ahead of time on a now-suspended Twitter account.
The footage, seen by AFP after it was found online by private terrorism monitor SITE, shows freelance reporter Sotloff dressed in orange and on his knees in a desert landscape.
Entitled "A second message to America.", the video goes on to show his apparent beheading before airing threats to kill a British captive next.
Morning news break – September 03
