Hackers Bring Down Serbian Tabloid Kurir's Site

"The third attack on the site since midnight is still underway," Kurir said on its Twitter profile on Tuesday afternoon.

BIRN has learned from the newspaper that its hosting service was trying to thwart the attacks, but they were very powerful.

The reason for the hacker assault is so far unclear.

The Serbian Interior Ministry said it was already looking into the issue.

"The Interior Ministry, in coordination with the Special Prosecutor's Office for the fight against cyber-crime, has undertaken measures and activities to shed light on the circumstances of the event and solve the crime of computer sabotage," the ministry said in a statement.

The Serbian Journalists Association, UNS, has called on police to find the perpetrators and go public with the results of the investigation.

The usually pro-government tabloid has recently questioned the sacking of police chief Rodoljub Milovic, accused by drug lord Darko Saric that he had ties to criminal circles.  At the same time, the paper accused Montengro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his close associate Beba Popovic for imposing control over Serbian media.