Associated Press Twitter account hacked, falsely claiming White House bombs

The Associated Press' Twitter account was hacked Tuesday as the perpetrators sent out tweets about a bombing at the White House, causing the stock market to plummet then quickly bounce back.

"Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured," the account tweeted before being quickly suspended by Twitter. The offending tweet was up for about four minutes.

The AP confirmed the hack and false tweet on a handful of its other Twitter accounts, and the White House said Obama was unharmed.

"The president is fine, I was just with him," White House press secretary Jay Carney said during a press briefing.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 150 points immediately after the tweet was published, but bounced back moments later as the tweet was debunked.

It's unclear who committed the attack, but a hacker collective supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed responsibility,tweeting, "Ops! @AP get owned by Syrian Electronic Army! #SEA #Syria #ByeByeObama," along with a screenshot of the hacked AP account.

The AP attack was only the latest in a string high-profile Twitter hijackings.

Last weekend, the account for CBS' "60 Minutes" was compromised, tweeting anti-Obama messages and claiming that the U.S. government was behind the Boston Marathon bombing. Several NRP accounts were also taken over recently.