ISIS posts online apology for beheading video…to its FOLLOWERS for releasing it ahead of schedule

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  • ISIS admitted Tuesday it released a video of a beheading before it was supposed to
  • The video – which allegedly shows the killing of Steven Sotloff – was shared by a Twitter account
  • A separate account failed to stop the video from spreading before its intended release time 
  • ISIS wrote in an apology ‘we are sorry to the followers of the Islamic State’ for the error
  • The U.S. has called the video a sickening act of brutality 
  • Sotloff, a freelance journalist, vanished in Syria in August 2013 and was not seen again until he appeared in a video released last month that showed James Foley’s beheading
ISIS admitted Tuesday it released a video of a man being beheaded before it was supposed to, it has emerged.
Vocativ reported that the video – which allegedly shows the killing of Steven Sotloff – was shared through a Twitter account. 
@Khattabyaz warned the first account there had been a mistake, and failed to stop the beheading video from being disseminated, the website reported. 
According to the news site, ISIS then wrote on Justpaste ‘A clarification about the mistake was made by “Uyun al-Ummah” account, that has published the video before the official time.
‘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.’
In a later Twitter message, those responsible apologized and asked fellow jihadis not to ‘reproach’ them.
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Beheading: ISIS released a video which allegedly showed the beheading of freelance journalist Steven Sotloff before it was supposed to. The group later apologized to its followers

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Beheading: ISIS released a video which allegedly showed the beheading of freelance journalist Steven Sotloff before it was supposed to. The group later apologized to its followers
Retaliation: The fighter who apparently beheads Sotloff in the video calls it retribution for Obama's continued airstrikes against the group

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Retaliation: The fighter who apparently beheads Sotloff in the video calls it retribution for Obama’s continued airstrikes against the group
The video footage – depicting what the U.S. called a sickening act of brutality – was posted two weeks after the release of video showing the killing of James Foley and just days after Sotloff’s mother pleaded for his life. 
In the video, the man who appears to be Sotloff says ‘I am Steven Joel Sotloff. I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing before you. And now this time for my message:
‘Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for the preservation of American lives and interest. So why is it that I’m having to pay the price of your interference with my life? Am I not an American citizen?
‘You’ve spent billions of U.S. taxpayers dollars and we’ve lost thousands of our troops in our previous fighting against the Islamic State. So where is the American people’s interest in reigniting this war? From what little I know about foreign policy I remember a time when you cannot win an election without promising to bring our troops back home from Iraq and Afghanistan and to close down Guantanamo.
‘Here you are now Obama nearing the end of your term and having achieved none of the above and seemingly marching us the American people into a blazing fire.’
Barak Barfi, a spokesman for the family, said that the Sotloffs had seen the video but that authorities have not established its authenticity.
‘The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately. There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time,’ Barfi said.
Sotloff, a 31-year-old Miami-area native who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, vanished in Syria in August 2013 and was not seen again until he appeared in a video released last month that showed Foley’s beheading. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the Islamic State.
In the video distributed Tuesday and titled ‘A Second Message to America,’ Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is apparently beheaded by a fighter with the Islamic State, the extremist group that has conquered wide swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and declared itself a caliphate. 
 
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. intelligence analysts will work as quickly as possible to determine if the video is authentic.
‘If the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act, taking the life of another innocent American citizen,’ Psaki said. ‘Our hearts go out to the Sotloff family.’
Psaki said it is believed that ‘a few’ Americans are still being held by the Islamic State. Psaki would not give any specifics, but one is a 26-year-old woman kidnapped while doing humanitarian aid work in Syria, according to a family representative who asked that the hostage not be identified out of fear for her safety.
The fighter who apparently beheads Sotloff in the video calls it retribution for Obama’s continued airstrikes against the group.
‘I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy toward the Islamic State … despite our serious warnings,’ the fighter says. ‘So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.’
The killer specifically mentions the recent U.S. airstrikes around the Mosul dam and the beleaguered Iraqi town of Amirli, making it unlikely that Sotloff was killed at the same time as Foley, as some analysts had speculated.
Over the weekend, Iraqi government forces with help from U.S. airstrikes broke the Islamic State’s two-month siege of Amirli, a town where some 15,000 Shiite Turkmens had been stranded.
The video footage - depicting what the U.S. called a sickening act of brutality - was posted two weeks after the release of video showing the killing of James Foley and just days after Sotloff's mother pleaded for his life

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The video footage – depicting what the U.S. called a sickening act of brutality – was posted two weeks after the release of video showing the killing of James Foley and just days after Sotloff’s mother pleaded for his life
In a statement Tuesday evening from U.S. Central Command, military officials said an airstrike conducted Monday against Islamic State militants near the Mosul Dam damaged or destroyed 16 armed vehicles.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. terrorism watchdog, first reported the video’s existence.
The Islamic State has terrorized rivals and civilians alike with widely publicized brutality as it seeks to expand a proto-state it has carved out on both sides of the border. In its rise to prominence over the past year, it has frequently published graphic photos and gruesome videos of bombings, beheadings and mass killings.
Last week, Sotloff’s mother, Shirley Sotloff, pleaded with his captors for mercy, saying in a video that her son was ‘an innocent journalist’ and ‘an honorable man’ who ‘has always tried to help the weak.’
Around the world: Sotloff is seen in Libya in this 2011 file photo

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Around the world: Sotloff is seen in Libya in this 2011 file photo
Mother: Shirley Sotloff pleaded with his captors for mercy last week, saying in a video that her son was 'an innocent journalist' and 'an honorable man' who 'has always tried to help the weak'

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Mother: Shirley Sotloff pleaded with his captors for mercy last week, saying in a video that her son was ‘an innocent journalist’ and ‘an honorable man’ who ‘has always tried to help the weak’
Sotloff grew up in the Miami area, graduated from Kimball Union Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire, and then attended the University of Central Florida, which said he majored in journalism from 2002 to 2004 but apparently left without graduating.
Just how Sotloff made his way from Florida to Middle East hotspots is not clear. He published articles from Syria, Egypt and Libya in a variety of publications. Several focus on the plight of ordinary people in war-torn places.
In a statement, Foreign Policy magazine said it was saddened by news of his death and called him a ‘brave and talented journalist’ whose reporting ‘showed a deep concern for the civilians caught in the middle of a brutal war.’
Time Editor Nancy Gibbs said Sotloff ‘gave his life so readers would have access to information from some of the most dangerous places in the world.’
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican, said the new video demonstrates the Islamic State’s ‘barbarity across the region – beheading and crucifying those who don’t share their ideology.’ He said the U.S. and allies need to step up military action against the group, including through airstrikes.
At Sotloff’s parents’ home in Pinecrest, Florida., two police vehicles blocked the driveway Tuesday, and officers advised journalists to stay away. Friends of the family could be seen coming and going.
‘Everyone’s been concerned. Everyone is grieving,’ neighbor Pepe Cazas said. ‘It’s terrible. I’ve been praying for him.’ 
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