Manama: The Twitter account of Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa was reclaimed hours after it was hacked.

“Praise be to God, the account has been reclaimed. Thank you dear friends for your efforts in informing Twitter. May God bless you” Shaikh Khalid posted on his account in early afternoon to his more than 380,000 followers.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash was among the first to congratulate Shaikh Khalid.

“Welcome back to the voice of serenity and sense,” he posted.

Shaikh Khalid who describes himself as diplomat, ambassador, Foreign Minister of Bahrain, reader, world traveller, and bon vivant, has been an avid user of the microblog since October 2009, making him among the first Arab ministers to communicate on social media.

His account was hacked early on Saturday by a group that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described as “a terrorist group that attributed false tweets to the minister.”

“The ministry said it was working on restoring the account after the hacking incident by the miserable group that fears the truth posted by the minister in his tweets that expose their acts of sabotage and their terrorism.”

The ministry added it was following up with the authorities concerned to take all necessary measures to hold the individuals behind this despicable act to account.