German government websites, including Merkel's page, attacked: spokesman

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, January 7, 2015. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

BERLIN (Reuters) - German government websites including Chancellor Angela Merkel's page have been attacked, rendering them inaccessible at times since 10.00 a.m. (4.00 a.m. ET), a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"Our service provider's data center is under a severe attack that has apparently been caused by a variety of external systems," Steffen Seibert told a government news conference.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; editing by John Stonestreet)