Islamic State leaders have published an statement online apologizing for leaking the Steven Sotloff execution video ahead of schedule.

Vocativ reports that an Islamic State-affiliated twitter account, which is now suspended, published the video ahead of the prescribed time. The group then apologized to its followers for the lack of discipline in a text missive on JustPaste.it.

“A clarification about the mistake was made by ‘Uyun al-Ummah’ account, that has published the video before the official time,” the group said, as translated by Vocativ.

“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 translated statement said.

A video of the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff was released on Tuesday afternoon, just weeks after the release of the video showing the beheading of U.S. photojournalist James Foley. Some security officials speculate that Sotloff may have been killed weeks ago.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.