Belgian PM joins in condemnation of IS hacking

The Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on Thursday joined in the international condemnation of the hacking of French television service TV5 MONDE.

"This is an unacceptable attack on the freedom of information. This will not prevent the spread of our values of freedom," he wrote on his twitter feed.

Broadcasts by the station were interrupted for around three hours from 10pm on Wednesday night by a group claiming to be affiliated with the radical Islamic State.

In addition to 11 television channels, its websites and social media accounts were also hacked.

A message posted by the hackers on the TV5 MONDE Facebook page read, "the CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State," over a picture of a masked jihadist.

The group also posted documents supposedly being the identity cards of French nationals whose relatives are involved in anti-Islamic State operations.

This cyber attack comes after the attack on the offices at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January, and its siege aftermath, that left 17 people dead.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that an inquiry had been set-up to investigate the incident.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called the cyber attack "an unacceptable insult to freedom of information and expression."

TV5 MONDE broadcasts worldwide to around 200 countries and regions, including Belgium and other European countries, Brazil, Canada, the United States and other locations in Asia and the Middle East. Endit