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By LORI HINNANT and ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press

PARIS (AP) - Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group simultaneously blacked out 11 channels of a French global TV network and took over its website and social media accounts on Thursday, in what appeared to be the most ambitious media attack so far by the extremist group.

Anti-terror prosecutors opened an investigation into the attack that began late Wednesday and blocked TV5 Monde from functioning part of the day Thursday. Operations were fully re-established Thursday evening.

France's interior minister, while counseling caution until investigators find hard evidence, said the attack was likely a terrorist act. "Numerous elements converge to suggest the cause of this attack is, indeed, a terrorist act," Bernard Cazeneuve said at a news conference.

France is "absolutely determined to catch those who want to strike at its heart," the minister said.

The hackers briefly cut transmission of 11 channels belonging to TV5 Monde and took over its websites and social media accounts. The channel's director, Yves Bigot, said the attack continued into Thursday. However, the station was able to broadcast its 6 p.m. live show, "64 Minutes."

"We are no longer dark," the station said.

More than a dozen technicians worked to return the station to life "without erasing the traces of the intrusion, which are precious for the investigation," the National Agency for Computer Systems Security said in a statement.

The message on the TV5 Monde website read in part "I am IS" with a banner by a group that called itself Cybercaliphate.

Hackers operating under the name Cybercaliphate have carried out a string of attention-seeking attacks against media outlets - including several in the U.S. - since late last year. Even though the hackers express support for the Islamic State group and routinely use its imagery in their attacks, it is difficult to know for sure whether they are genuine members, simple supporters or hackers with no link to IS. Experts who have followed the group's online communications say its supporters have regularly expressed interest in launching cyber-attacks at Western targets.

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French network's channels hacked by group claiming IS ties