Via SMH:

Islamic State militants have issued an apology following the release of a horrific video that appears to show the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.

But the jihadist group was not apologising for the terrifying death of the 31-year-old freelance journalist, who was kidnapped in Syria last year.

Instead, it appeared someone within IS had published the video of Sotloff’s apparent execution online ahead of the intended time, according to the online news website Vocativ.

And, for that lack of discipline, the group was sorry.

“We tried to remove the video after we understood that this was published by mistake, and we are sorry to the followers of Islamic State,” the group said in a message, in Arabic, posted on Justpaste.