missing mh370 plane
Indian sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik applies the final touches to a sand art sculpture he created wishing for the well being of the passengers of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, on a beach in Puri, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, on Mar.9, 2014. Reuters

A group called Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade has claimed responsibility for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, without providing many details about the fate of the plane itself, even as at least one official dismissed the group's claims, local news reports said.

The Nation, a Bangkok-based news agency, reported Monday that the group had sent an e-mail to journalists across China taking responsibility for the missing airplane, which disappeared Saturday with 239 passengers and crew on board, about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The statement, which came through an encrypted Hushmail anonymous service that is reportedly almost impossible to be traced, on March 9, read: "You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as pay back."

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Monday said: "There is no sound or credible grounds to justify their claims," according to MSN.

Meanwhile, local news organizations were also skeptical about the statement's credibility and expressed concerns that it might be a hoax aimed at sparking further ethnic tensions in China following a series of attacks by separatists in China’s restive Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwestern province of Xinjiang.

China