The Libyan Transitional National Council says it has arrested a group of young people it believes are responsible for the appalling desecration of a Commonwealth WWII graveyard.

The story first came to light after the perpetrators of the heinous acts uploaded footage of the attack on YouTube. The attack took place in the east, near Benghazi, and has horrified people in both the UK and Australia.

Armed extremists smashed up 198 graves. Dressed in combat gear and armed with guns, the extremists filmed themselves rampaging through the Benghazi cemetery as they smashed up headstones and tore down the Cross of Remembrance with a sledgehammer.

Throughout the disturbing footage, they can be heard laughing and cursing the fallen servicemen as they embarked on the trail of destruction. The sound on the clip is clear and the vandals can be heard saying: “Destroy that cross, they are dogs” and “We begin with this one, then we’ll take care of that other one. We won’t leave any left.”

The Libyan authorities are said to be mortified by the attack and said a “number” of “young people” had been detained and were being questioned about who else was involved. Libyan police had been deployed to protect the site, but in a country where militias hold more sway than the local authorities, one wonders.

The transitional government has issued a statement apologising for this incident and will follow it up in full to ensure that those involved are brought to justice, but this will do little to comfort British people who believed that the country had taken up the cause of the Libyan people during the revolution which toppled Gaddafi.

The world really did rally to Libya’s cause in taking up arms against Gaddafi. Some will argue that this intervention was about oil, but it clearly was more than that. Britain and France left no stone unturned to continue to hit Gaddafi’s military.

Things in Libya are indeed getting worse before they are getting better. The TNC looks like it has no real control as the militias continue to roam the streets and ‘enforce’ security. Misurata, meanwhile, is a law unto itself and authorities there are continuing to round up Libyans suspected of being Gaddafi sympathisers. Torture is rampant, according to various United Nations teams and reports. The south continues to be ravaged by tribal warfare and the country as a whole really does seem to be at a crossroads.

One understands that the attack on the war graves might have been carried out by members of a young extremist splinter group, and when one thinks of the adulation showered on Britain and France once the country was liberated, then it could well be the case.

But whatever the case may be, such attacks are inexcusable. The dead are the dead and these people are war heroes, many of whom gave up their lives to liberate Libya from the Nazis and Italians in World War II. This was a very sad incident, one which will not do much to foster Libya’s relationship with Europe, and will also not do much to convince the world that the TNC is consolidating some grip on power in this tortured nation.