Islamic State leaders posted an apology to their followers for making public American journalist Steven Sotloff’s video ahead of schedule, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The video was released on Tuesday afternoon, just weeks after the release of the video showing James Foley’s decapitation. In neither video is there anything indicating the actual date of the beheadings, and some security officials speculate that Sotloff may have been killed days or even weeks ago. (RELATED: Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Says U.S. Must Arm Kurds After Sotloff Beheading)
“The ‘Uyūn al-Ummah [Twitter] account shared a video of the message by the Islamic State’s second American prisoner, Steven Sotloff, before it was officially released by the official Al-I’tisām Organization account,” their apology begins.
“The admins asked the brothers operating ‘Uyūn al-Ummah to explain who had published the clip, and the brother — God forgive us and him — replied: ‘We saw somebody in our mentions tweeting about the clip. Our brother thought that Al-I’tisām had released it and hurried to share the video. But when ‘Uyūn al-Ummah’s admin checked Al-I’tisām’s account to confirm its authenticity, he found that it hadn’t yet been released, and proceeded to delete it, apologizing to his followers and his brothers in the Islamic State.'”
The announcement also includes screencaps of the unofficial account tweeting out the video, apologizing for accidentally being the first to make it public, and admitting to deleting their original tweet. (RELATED: Islamic Militants Use Twitter App To Help Take Over Iraq And Syria)
“The admins of the ‘Uyūn al-Ummah account repeat their apologies to their followers and to the Islamic State,” the message concludes.