Swedish Web sites targeted by Turkish hackers

Hackers in Turkey have attacked more than 5,000 Swedish Web sites in the past week, and at least some of the sabotage appears linked to a Swedish newspaper's publication of a disparaging caricature of Islam's prophet, an Internet company and a media watchdog said Sunday. Around 1,600 Web sites hosted by server-provider Proinet and 3,800 sites hosted by another company have been targeted, Proinet spokesman Kjetil Jensen said. Jensen said the hackers, operating on a Turkish network, removed all files on the Web sites and in some cases replaced them with messages. According to Swedish news agency TT, the Web site of a children's cartoon called Bamse was replaced by a message saying Islam's holy prophet had been insulted. The incidents have been reported to the police.