British War Graves in Libya Desecrated by Islamist Militants
Video footage has been released showing graves in a British military cemetery in Libya being destroyed by what appears to be an Islamist militia.
The video, shot by the militia themselves, shows more than 30 armed men kicking down the gravestones of British servicemen while comrades use sledgehammers to break the cenotaph. “Break the cross of the dogs!” one man can be heard shouting as another soldier perches on a ladder to smash the cenotaph cross with a mallet.
The cemetery, near the eastern city of Benghazi, hold the remains of more than 100 British and Commonwealth servicemen who fought for Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the second world war.
Its desecration has caused shockwaves in both Libya and in Britain, with MP Daniel Kawczynski, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for Libya, labelling the militia “desecrators”.
In Libya, the ruling National Transitional Council last week issued an apology on its website, with one official blaming the destruction on “three young men”. But the video, which was recorded by the militia itself, shows the attack to be more organised; the unit arrives equipped with sledgehammers and a ladder.
None of the perpetrators has been arrested and the cemetery, one of dozens across Libya built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission after the second world war, is today in ruins.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission said no staff had been hurt, but had reports that a second cemetery, also near Benghazi, had been vandalised. “We are awaiting a detailed report, but in both cemeteries headstones were broken and disfigured,” it said in a statement.