France's TV5Monde 'hit by Islamic State hackers'

Several of the organisations social media accounts were hit

The French television network TV5Monde says it has suffered an "unprecedented" attack from hackers claiming to belong to Islamic State (IS).

TV5Monde said its TV station, website and social media accounts were all hit.

The hackers also posted documents purporting to be ID cards of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-IS operations.

TV5Monde regained control over most of its sites about two hours after the attack began.

Its digital director, Helene Zemmour, called the hack "unprecedented and large-scale".

A message posted by the hackers on TV5Monde's Facebook site read: "The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State."

They replaced TV5Monde's social media profile pictures with a masked Islamist fighter.

France is part of the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.

In January, the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the US military command were hit by pro-IS hackers. But Centcom said it was "cyber-vandalism" and not a serious data breach.