According to a recent statement by public broadcaster BBC, a number of official BBC Twitter accounts - including the BBCWeather, BBCArabicOnline and BBCRadioUlster accounts - were hacked on Thursday by hackers who apparently have links with the Syrian government.

The responsibility of the hacks on the official BBC Twitter accounts - which have over 120,000 followers in all - has been claimed by a group of pro-Assad hackers and online activists who calls themselves the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).

The hackers belonging to the Syrian Electronic Army sent a series of tweets from the hacked accounts. Most of the tweets expressed anti-Israeli sentiments on the day of US president Barack Obama's recent visit to the country; with the first of the tweets sent by the hackers reading thus: "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here via Official-SEA £SEA £Syria" and another "Long Live £Syria Al-Assad £SEA".

While some of the tweets criticized the UK government, some others criticized the governments of Qatar, Tureky, and the Lebanon.

The Thursday hacks make BBC the latest media company to be targeted by the SEA. Last month, the group - which claims to be "supporting the Syrian people against £FSA (Free Syrian Army) terrorism" - had targeted the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, and took over the AFP photo account and posted images which were supposedly from the warzone in Syria.