A mosque in south-western France has been desecrated by vandals who left two pigs' heads on its entrance gate, local media reported Wednesday.
The pigs' heads were found by worshippers in the town of Montauban as they arrived for pre-dawn prayers, La Depeche newspaper reported.
Montauban's mayor's office condemned the "odious and blasphemous" attack.
The mosque's Imam, Hajii Mohamed, expressed consternation at the attack which comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"People lose their heads, especially during Ramadan, even though we preach dialogue between religions," La Depeche quoted him as saying.
Montauban is 50 kilometres north of the city of Toulouse where Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah shot dead two paratroopers in March. Both were of North African origin.
Merah also shot dead a third paratrooper, also of North African origin, in Toulouse as well as three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi. An elite police team shot dead the Toulouse native during a raid on March 22.
It was unclear whether there were links between the mosque attack his killing campaign.
In 2009, pigs feet were hung on the gate of a mosque 120 kilometres south-east of Montauban, in the town of Castres.
The Collective against Islamophobia in France recorded 21 attacks on mosques in 2011, in which the mosques were either vandalized or tagged with hostile slogans or sullied with urine or pigs heads.
