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Islamist Hackers Say They Defaced a French Canadian Political Website

The group claims it isn't affiliated with ISIS, but want to "kick the haters of islam online."

An Islamic hacker group by the name of United Islamic Cyber Force claimed responsibility for the defacement of a French Canadian political party website on Monday morning.

The website of the Bloc Québécois, a provincial party in the province of Quebec, temporarily displayed a black background with red text linking to the Facebook page of the United Islamic Cyber Force.

"The Prophet S.A.W said, you will invade the Arabian Peninsula and Allah will grant it (to you)," a statement on the page read. "Then (you will invade) Persia and Allah will grant it (to you). Then, you will invade Rome and Allah will grant it (to you). Then, you will invade The Dajjal and Allah will grant him (to you)."

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The Bloc Québécois did not respond to a request for comment.

The hack is the latest in a wave of similar hacks by pro-ISIS hacker groups—including the hijacking of the US Central Command's Twitter and YouTube accounts on January 12.

However, in an interview with Motherboard, one of the alleged hackers who goes by the name "MrBz Al Fatih" said the group wasn't affiliated with ISIS.

Rather, members of the United Islamic Cyber Force want to "kick the haters of islam online," and "to tell the politicants [sic] that we are the people of world who wants peace in world," the person wrote via Twitter direct message. "We are the big haters of politicants [sic] who eats money of innocent people."

MrBz AlFatih did not explain why the group targeted the Bloc Québécois, which is primarily focused on issues of Quebec sovereignty, and has only a small presence in Parliament compared to other Canadian political parties, such as the Conservatives, Liberals and the NDP.

But in an interview with La Presse, Bloc Québécois youth wing president Louis-Philippe Sauvé said the party was probably targeted because of its stance against new Canadians being allowed to wear a niqab during citizenship ceremonies. In early February a federal judge ruled that forcing immigrants to remove face coverings during citizenship ceremonies was unlawful.

While both Anonymous and pro-ISIS hackers have been engaged in a series of virtual confrontations, hacking websites of sympathizers from each side, MrBz AlFatih said the hack wasn't linked to the #OpCharlieHebdo campaign launched by Anonymous in January.

"We review the site then we scanned it and bangg, lol", wroteMrBz AlFatih, suggesting the group used a vulnerability scanning tool to identify any weaknesses.

The Bloc Québécois appear to have since regained control of the website. The defaced page was replaced with an under construction notice by early afternoon.