Qatar's pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera says it has come under a large-scale cyber attack which targeted "all systems" as tensions between Doha and Riyadh show no sign of easing.
"Al Jazeera Media Network under cyber attack on all systems, websites & social media platforms," it said on social networking website Twitter on Thursday.
The wide-scale cyber attack was also confirmed by a source at Al Jazeera, who said the broadcaster was attempting to repel the hack.
"An attempt has been made, and we are trying to battle it," media outlets quoted the source as saying.
The alleged cyber attack comes during a time of heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf region.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates broke off relations with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region. They also suspended all land, air and sea traffic with Qatar, ejected its diplomats and ordered Qatari citizens to leave their countries.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani rejected those “trying to impose their will on Qatar or intervene in its internal affairs.”
Saudi Arabia also on Monday shut the local office of Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel amid escalation of tensions between the two Persian Gulf states.
“The Ministry of Information closed the office of the Al Jazeera channel and withdrew the license it was granted,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The kingdom accused the Qatari channel of promoting "terrorist groups."
Separately, beIN Sports, a subsidiary satellite network of Al Jazeera, went offline in the United Arab Emirates, Reuters quoted an official in the UAE.
“We are getting a lot of calls regarding this... (the channels) are currently off air in the UAE,” said an official at the Dubai-based DU telecommunications company, without elaborating as to why.
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