A British First World War cemetery in France was desecrated by vandals today.

A monument and 12 graves were daubed with pink swastikas, SS insignia and other graffiti.

The cemetery in the town of Loos-en-Gohelle holds British and Canadian soldiers who fell in an October 1915 battle there.

France's minister for veterans, Hubert Falco, said that the desecration, which took place before dawn, was "an insult to the memory" of the soldiers and an "insult to France."

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