A shadowy terror group has claimed responsibility for the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines jet.
Despite the Chinese Martyrs' Brigade group's claim that it has hijacked Flight MH370, officials were skeptical and said the claim could be a hoax.
According to news.com.au, the group on Sunday sent an e-mail to journalists across China that read: "You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as pay back".
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said he doubted the claim's legitimacy.
According to the report, other officials said the claim could be a hoax aimed at increasing ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese after the March 1 knife attacks in the south-western city of Kunming that left 29 people dead and about 140 others injured.
They added that the message was delivered through an encrypted, anonymous Hushmail service that is virtually impossible to trace, the report added.