Vandals painted an offensive sectarian term on a war memorial on the Derry Road in Strabane, County Tyrone, on Monday. Police classified the incident as a sectarian hate crime.

Council staff from Derry City and Strabane District Council removed the graffiti. The same term appeared on the memorial again on Tuesday.

Derick Donnell, chairman of the local Royal British Legion branch, called the attacks sad and upsetting. He described the memorial as desecrated and compared the vandalism to damaging a family grave.

Donnell noted the monument honours local men from both sides of the community who served in war. He stated people lack education about its purpose and expressed puzzlement at the consecutive attacks, as it had not faced such vandalism before.

He mentioned wreaths had been removed from the memorial in past years but this incident marked a higher level of damage. Donnell said the Royal British Legion welcomes discussions with anyone in Strabane concerned about the memorial.

Police received no report about Tuesday's incident. At a council meeting on Wednesday, DUP councillor Keith Kerrigan called the graffiti disappointing amid town promotion efforts and noted its appearance in other Strabane areas.

Sinn Féin councillor Paul Boggs told the meeting the attacks were deeply regrettable and stressed that a contested past must not shape the future.