Hackers have taken over a Twitter account belonging to US broadcaster Fox News and declared President Barack Obama dead and Vice President Joe Biden as his successor

The @foxnewpolitics feed, which has over 34,000 followers, began posting bizarre messages at about 7am today. The timing of the hack coincides with US Independence Day.

The broadcaster, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, sent out a series of tweets claiming Mr Obama had been shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck while campaigning at Ross' Restaurant in Bettendorf, Iowa.

It followed up these tweets by wishing Mr Biden the best of luck as the new US president. "In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of (the) tunnel," it said.

The Fox New Politics account carries the "verified" icon that shows it has been certified by Twitter as genuine.

The account is one of many owned by the controversial broadcaster, which has been heavily criticised over its conservative stance.

There was both anger and bemusement from Twitter users over the tweets, with some commentators declaring the attack in poor taste.

Others, however, suggested no one was likely to believe the tweets were truthful simply because they came from Fox News.

In a brief statement issued several hours after the attacks, Fox News admitted its account had been hacked.

"Hackers sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family." the broadcaster said.

"The hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created," it added.

A group calling itself The ScriptKiddies claimed responsibility for sending the tweets - including "#ObamaDead, it's a sad 4th of July" - from the "foxnewspolitics" name before Twitter suspended its account. In all some six false tweets were issued, saying the president had been shot at a restaurant in Iowa while campaigning.

Mr Obama has not been in Iowa this weekend and returned yesterday to the White House from a brief trip to Camp David.

Fox is not the only media organisation to have been attacked of late. The much-respected US Public Broadcasting Service had its website hacked in May when a story claiming rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were alive in New Zealand was published.

A group known as LulzSec claimed responsibility for that attack, but it has reportedly disbanded since then.