Twitter hacker posts bogus report of attack on Obama
New York - A group of hackers broke into the Twitter account of the Associated Press and posted a false news report Tuesday about President Barack Obama being injured in two explosions at the White House.
Within a few minutes the US news wire service said its Twitter feed had been hacked, and immediately suspended the account.
"Our accounts have been hacked," AP spokeswoman Erin Madigan-White told dpa at AP headquarters in New York. "It was a bogus tweet."
White House spokesman Jay Carney, who opened a regular White House briefing about five minutes after the false tweet, immediately said: "The president is fine."
The hoax report read: "Breaking: Two explosions in the White House and the president is injured."
The AP, which is the US news service of record, did not move the report on its news wire. The AP's twitter account, which is closely followed by media organizations, has 1.9 million followers.
"Hackers compromise main @AP Twitter account, sending out erroneous tweet about #WhiteHouse attack. There has been no attack at #WhiteHouse," AP tweeted from another account, AP Courtside Seat.
A shadowy group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for the hoax.//DPA
