Hackers play 30 minutes of ISIS propaganda on Swedish radio

A sign on a lamp post bears the logo of the Isis group in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. PHOTO: AFP

STOCKHOLM (REUTERS) - Some listeners to commercial radio station Mix Megapol in Sweden heard 30 minutes of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propaganda song on Friday (Nov 10) after hackers took over the station's frequency, the station's owners said.

Mix Megapol is one of Sweden's biggest radio stations with around 1.4 million listeners daily, although the problem affected only listeners in the southern Swedish city of Malmo.

"Somebody interfered with our frequency using a pirate transmitter," Jakob Gravestam, Marketing Director at Bauer Media Group, which owns Mix Megapol, said in a press release.

"We will report the incident to police and to the National Post and Telecom Agency."

The song, with male voices singing in English, featured lyrics such as: "For the sake of Allah we will march to gates of the paradise where our maidens await. We are men who love death just as you love your life, we are soldiers who fight in the day and the night."

The hosts of popular morning show Anders & Gry with Friends did not notice the problem until listeners called in and asked what was going on.

"A lot of people have called us about this. We are very happy that people are vigilant and we treat this very seriously," Gravestam told website 24Malmo.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.