Qaeda propaganda website shut down

LONDON: A website that served as Al-Qaeda’s main channel for spreading its ideology has been shut down by a Western intelligence agency.

The al-Shamukh forum was used by the group to issue official statements.

But the website is now completely crippled after its address was revoked and then its contents were deleted from the server that hosted it in Malaysia.

Last year al-Shamukh replaced an earlier forum, al-Faloja, which was also used to distribute propaganda and martyrdom videos. This week’s apparent attack leaves al-Qaeda without an official communications channel online.

The apparent sophistication of the attack on al-Shamukh prompted claims that hackers working for Western intelligence agencies were responsible.