Several Twitter accounts operated by Malaysiakini have been hijacked by hackers just as campaigning for the 13th general election reaches the mid-way mark.

A group known as Sarkas Siber are claiming responsibility. Little is known about the group. Its Facebook page was set up a day ago, soon after they gained control of the Twitter accounts.

Malaysiakini has contacted Twitter to recover the accounts. This process may take several days.

"We urge our Twitter followers to follow our Facebook page as well to keep up to date with our election campaign coverage," said Malaysiakini chief editor Fathi Aris Omar.

Over the past few years, Malaysiakini has been repeatedly subject to service disruption attempts by unidentified groups during national events and elections.

The latest incident occurred last week. Several Internet Service Providers (ISP) appear to be throttling traffic to Malaysiakini and other political websites.