Hackers have attacked a Sudanese website close to the country's powerful security apparatus, AFP learned on Friday.

In a rare cyber-assault, the website of the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) was inaccessible and instead carried a message that "this website has been hacked by the Border Guards".

It included a link, www.sudaht.com, to a page for "Sudan Hack Team". Other than a photograph of riot policemen, the website had no further content and said a forum was under construction.

SMC carries articles about political and security events in Sudan, an impoverished country ravaged by war in the Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Sudanese journalists regularly complain of censorship by the country's National Intelligence and Security Service, which has also been accused of rights abuses.

SMC's hackers left a short message headlined "Journalism and what is a journalist".

They criticised titillating and unprofessional coverage on social media, and accused journalists of supporting the government.

The Islamist regime of President Omar al-Bashir has been in power for 25 years.