Doha : Qatar said Wednesday it had begun an inquiry into an unprecedented security breach by hackers who posted fake new stories attributed to its ruler on highly sensitive regional political issues.
The cyber attack, which hit Qatar's official news agency website and Twitter account, caused ripples inside the Gulf state and across the Middle East.
Qatar's Communications Office said the stories were completely untrue, and had "no basis whatsoever".
Among the topics supposedly addressed by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani were the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, strategic relations with Iran, and comments about Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
There were also alleged "tensions" between Qatar and the administration of US President Donald Trump.
In addition, the hacked Twitter account contained a false story in Arabic apparently from the country's foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, about Qatar withdrawing its ambassadors from several nearby countries.
One aim of the attack appears to be to harm Doha's fragile relations with neighbouring Gulf states, which have been exposed in recent years over issues such as Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Amid the confusion, Qatar's Communications Office said the stories were completely baseless.
"The Qatar News Agency website has been hacked by an unknown entity," reported the Communications Office in a statement.
"A false statement attributed to His Highness has been published."
Officials told AFP that the inquiry had already begun and that the communications office was expected to make a further statement later on Wednesday.
The communications office said that the "State of Qatar will hold all those" who committed the breach accountable.
The Qatar News Agency is expected to hold a press conference later today.
The "false statement" on QNA, which appeared in the early hours of the morning, was picked up and reported by broadcasters and newspapers across the region, including in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera was unavailable for some time in the UAE, though it was not clear if it was blocked on purpose.
The Al-Jazeera Arabic website was also inaccessible in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning.
Saudi media slammed the alleged statement describing Iran as a "stability guarantor" in the region.
One analyst on the Saudi state news channel, Al Akhbariya, called Tamim's alleged remarks as "political adolescence".
