The websites of a church and a primary school in Yorkshire have been hacked by suspected Islamist extremists.

The Danish Seamen's Church of Hull and Sowerby Community Primary School were targeted by a group calling itself X-saad, which replaced their home pages with a hate message directed against the US and Israel. It said: "We Hackers We defend our religion, we do not forget we are without limits we do not believe in the laws.

"Islam is not a terrorist religion but Islam is the religion of coexistence and mercy and love, the real terrorists are Israel and america."

Sowerby Community Primary School governor Charles Allen used social media to reassure parents and the wider community. He said in Twitter posts: "As a Community Governor I have been asked by Jean Yendall, Head Teacher, to post the following to inform and reassure parents.

"The school is aware the website has been hacked and will get the message taken down as soon as possible.

"The school has been in dialogue with North Yorkshire Police. There is no need for anyone to contact the police any further.

"The school and police believe it is perfectly safe to send your child/children to school today."

It is not known why the school was targeted, but North Yorkshire police said they were investigating the incident.

Rev Torben Jorgenson, pastor at Skt Nikolaj church in Hull, told the Daily Mail that he was angry about the incident. "It is like a thief coming into your home when they are not invited," he said.

"I am angry. We do not want our website to be used to promote this radical and political message. Our website is a friendly one and is used to post information about our social and cultural events. It is very shocking."

The church is in the process of having the message removed.

The Danish Church is one of only two in Britain and is a hub for the region's Nordic community.

No reasons have been given for either organisation to be targeted and during the last two weeks X-saad has targeted 22 other organisations, apparently randomly.