The group called Anonymous claims that it has hacked into the websites of about 70 U.S. law enforcement agencies in retaliation for the arrests of some of its supporters in the U.S. and Britain.

The group said Saturday it had stolen a “massive amount of confidential information” from the computer systems of the agencies, most of them located in rural communities in southern and central U.S. states. The group said it posted the information – including emails and credit card information – on the Internet in an attempt to discredit the law enforcement groups.

The Associated Press said content was deleted from many of the websites of the law enforcement agencies the news wire service checked.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and British and Dutch officials last month arrested 21 people, with many of the apprehensions related to the Anonymous attacks on the Internet payment company PayPal. It was targeted because PayPal has refused to process donations to WikiLeaks, the group headed by Australian Julian Assange that has divulged thousands of sensitive documents lifted from the computer files of U.S. diplomatic and military operations.