Residents in a Muslim neighbourhood were horrified to discover a severed pig's head near a children's play area.

It is strictly against the Muslim religion to touch or eat pork and residents at Thornhill Place, off Leeds Road, Bradford, fear the pig's head was placed near their homes as a deliberate mark of offence.

The discovery was made following reports that the body of a 65-year-old Muslim woman was found in a mortuary at Hillingdon Hospital, London, covered with rashers of bacon. Her family was traumatised.

The pig's head was found on land at the former Thornbury Primary School.

Najma Khan, 28, whose children were among those who discovered it, said she was "sickened". "The children had been out playing and came running inside really upset," she said. "The younger ones didn't know what it was and said they'd seen a monster's head. They were devastated.

"I went out with my brother, it was just a few yards from the house. When we saw it we were disgusted. It made my brother sick. I can't believe anyone could put such a thing where children play, and near the homes of Muslim people. It was a big head and didn't look like it had been treated by a butcher. It looked like it had been just cut off."

Mrs Khan believes the pig's head was placed as a deliberate attempt to offend Muslims. "It would have been a horrible thing for anyone to find, but it is deeply offensive to us," she said. "That area is used by children to cut through to the play area and that thing was deliberately placed there.

"My family has lived in this area for 30 years, I grew up here, and we've never come across anything like this. This is a quiet area with a friendly community. We get on well with the old people round here and there's never any trouble. The whole street is outraged by this. Our children will probably never forget what they saw - my son was too scared to go to bed last night."

Barry Malik, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said: "I strongly condemn whoever did this, it is morally wrong to offend people in this way. I urge the people living nearby to ignore it."

Inspector Harcharan Singh, at Toller Lane police station, said police were not treating it as a racial incident.

"The pig's head was found on a former school site where there is a lot of litter. We have now removed it," he said. "It had been there for some time, as it was rotting. We believe it was just dumped with litter, we don't believe it was placed there deliberately to offend the Muslim community."