Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra's Twitter account is hacked

The postings criticised Yingluck Shinawatra's handling of the recent floods

The Twitter account of Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been hacked and used to post questions about her competence.

The false tweets accused her of cronyism and various failures.

The final post read: "If she can't even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country?"

Ms Yingluck won a clear victory in July, but is accused by her critics of being a puppet of her brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Thaksin - whose populist policies won him the support of much of the rural and urban poor - was thrown out of office in a 2006 military coup.

Now living in exile in Dubai, he is still seen as the de facto leader of his sister's Pheu Thai party - although the party insists his role is purely advisory.

Ms Yingluck - Thailand's first female prime minister - has no previous political experience but has won support with her pledge to heal the divisions that have plagued the country since her brother was ousted.

But, in one of the hacked Tweets, her government is accused of failure in its response to floods that have hit large parts of the country.

Another questioned her promise to give tablet computers to school children, suggesting she concentrate on education reform instead.

"This country is a business. We work for our allies, not for the Thai people. We work for those who support us, not those who differ with us," another read.

The government confirmed that the prime minister's account - PouYingluck - had been hacked and the Information and Communication Technology Ministry is investigating.