Islamist hackers seized control of the government’s official air-quality website to post a message criticising Britain for its role in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Visitors on Tuesday morning to the UK-Air website, part of the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs, were greeted with a black background with a a large portrait of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Beneath it a message in broken English read: “It’s time to remind the British government what you did with Saddam Hussein will not forget. And we are ready to sacrifice with everything, as not to give up Iraq and stay alert for the coming…”

Twitter users noticed the hack, claimed by a group calling itself the Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail, as early as 7am. By 8am the message had been removed and replaced with a holding page. Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail appears to style itself as an Islamist version of the Anonymous hacking group.

A Defra press officer told the Guardian that the department was “aware” of the hack but could provide no further details at that time.

The hacked page included a link to an Arabic-language Facebook page for the Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail. A banner picture on the page showed eight masked men posing in T-shirts bearing the acronym MIUM. A link on the page led to a webpage hosting an Anonymous-style montage video made of news reports on the hackers’ exploits.

On the news feed, the group claimed responsibility for a separate hack of Zambia’s state website, as well as posting anti-Israel messages and comments on Middle East politics.



The Anti-Defamation League, which documents and counters racism, has previously accused MIUM of hacking on behalf of the Islamic State terrorist group. MIUM hackers have targeted Jewish websites in the US during the recent conflict between Israel and Gaza, the ADL said in a blogpost, before turning their attention to US military-linked websites in response to the American-led air campaign against Isis which began in December.

British forces are also involved in the campaign against Isis militants in Iraq. The backbone of the terror group is formed of Sunni Islamists, but elements of Saddam’s Baathist regime – which was backed by Iraq’s Sunni minority – are also said to support the insurgency.



The UK was part of the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, toppling Saddam after nearly 24 years in power. The UK’s role in the Iraq war has previously been cited as a justification for terrorist attacks and threats against British nationals.

Mention of the Defra hack was first made on Twitter by Jim McQuaid at 7.05am. The UK-Air home page usually publishes pollution forecasts for the coming days and data on the latest pollution levels. Normal service had been restored to the UK-Air site by 8.24am.