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Thieves have stolen a British Legion soldier statue from a Remembrance Day display ahead of commemorations.
The silhouette disappeared from in Abercarn, Caerphilly, between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Gwent Police said.
The force is appealing for information on the theft, which came before a remembrance service to mark 100 years since the armistice.
The Royal British Legion has been sending the silhouettes around Britain as part of commemorations, saying they symbolise communities that served in the First World War.
The charity said their installation serves as a “thank you to the generation who served, sacrificed, rebuilt and changed the nation”.
In October, the head was knocked off another "Tommy" silhouette in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
On Friday, Britain’s first statue of a South Asian First World War soldier was graffitied , just days after being unveiled.
The 10ft statue of a Sikh soldier stands outside a gurdwara in Smethwick, near Birmingham, as part of a monument called the Lions of the Great War.
Show all 30 1 /30Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The moat of the Tower of London filled with thousands of lit torches as part of the installation 'Beyond the Deepening Shadow: The Tower Remembers', marking the centenary of the end of the First World War
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Poppy tributes outside Liberton Kirk in Edinburgh
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures 36,000 leaf-shaped messages are hung from St. Patrick's Cathedral ceiling in Dublin, remembering the 36,000 Irish men and women who died in World War I
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Colour Sgt Paul Harris of the 3pwr reservists salutes beneath a wooden sculpture of a First World War horse in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral in Kent following a service of dedication for their Field of Remembrance
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Staff from Cardiff Castle dressed in period WWI dress, look around the newly opened Commonwealth War Graves Commission replica cemetery and exhibition, which has been installed at the castle to mark the centenary of Armistice. The 330 headstones placed in the courtyard represent the more than 30,000 Welsh men and women who gave their lives during the First World War
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The Weeping Window poppy installation, by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, is pictured outside of the Imperial War Museum in London, ahead of Armistice Day. Weeping Window is a cascade comprising several thousand handmade ceramic poppies seen pouring from a high location to the ground below
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Yeoman of the Guard light the first torches
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Three men take a moment to look at the Lions of the Great War monument in Smethwick, West Midlands. The 10-foot high bronze figure of a Sikh soldier is the UK's first statue of a World War soldier from South Asia, and commemorates 100 years since the end of the war
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Veterans attend the opening of the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance in the city's Princes Street Gardens
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Chelsea Pensioner Roy Palmer, aged 79, in his ceremonial uniform as a retired member of the British army with 6 foot 'Tommy' figures at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, for the 'There But Not There' campaign to commemorate the upcoming centenary of the end of World War I. World War I ended on November 11, 1918 and 'There But Not There' is the 2018 Armistice project for the charity Remembered
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Yeoman Warders, commonly known as 'Beefeaters' light the first of thousands of flames in a lighting ceremony
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Sixteen thousand poppies that have been installed on the exterior of Liberton Kirk in Edinburgh to mark the centenary of armistice at the end of the First World War
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Soldiers from 3RSME, the Royal School of Military Engineering, look at a piece called 'Lost Soldiers', which has been created by artist Mark Humphrey and is on display at Montgomery Square in Canary Wharf, London, as part of its Remembrance Art Trail to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The Swindon Borough Council Tommy silhouette on display inside St Augustine's Church, Wiltshire, where 1300 poppies hang from the roof to represent the lives lost in the local area during World War I
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures 93-year-old veteran Elizabeth Mitchell lays a wreath at the opening of the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance in the city's Princes Street Gardens
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures 'The Haunting', a six-metre high sculpture depicting a weary First World War soldier, on display in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, after it's official unveiling to commemorate the centenary of the ending of World War I
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory, Master Gunner of St James's Park, reads a section from the Royal Artillery's Armistice Roll of Honour, containing the names of their fallen World War One comrades, in the Morning Chapel inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Volunteers light torches that are part of the installation 'Beyond the Deepening Shadow' at the Tower of London
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures A soldier from 3RSME, the Royal School of Military Engineering, looks at a piece called 'Lost Armies', which has been created by artist Mark Humphrey and is on display at Jubilee Park in Canary Wharf
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures A Chelsea Pensioner stands with 6 foot 'Tommy' figures at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, for the 'There But Not There' campaign
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Luke, Nathan and Frankie from Hornchurch and Upminster Sea Cadets, look at a piece called 'ANA', which has been created by artist Mark Humphrey and is on display at Adams Plaza in Canary Wharf
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Thousands of flames in the dry moat of the Tower of London
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The figure of a First World War soldier sits on a central reservation in Woolton Village, Liverpool marking the cemtenary of the end of the war
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Crosses and poppies placed in the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance in the city's Princes Street Gardens
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures British General Lord Richard Dannatt, front center, the retired former Chief of the General Staff, head of the British army, poses for a group photograph with Chelsea Pensioners, serving soldiers, serving airmen and women, Royal Navy reservists, military veterans and 6 foot 'Tommy' figures at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, for the 'There But Not There' campaign
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures A Yeoman of the Guard stands amongst lit torches
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Canon Nick Fennemore, Chaplain of Winchester Cathedral, looks at the woollen poppies hung on the railings outside the Cathedral in Hampshire to recall the poppy fields of Flanders. The installation will remain until 19 November, as part of First World War commemorations
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The UK Parliament and German Bundestag choirs commemorate the centenary of the Armistice which ended the First World War, at the Houses of Parliament
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Centenary of Armistice – in pictures Members of the public at the unveiling of a new war memorial in Hamilton Square in Birkenhead. The bronze statue of an exhausted soldier, created by Jim Wheelen and The Birkenhead Institute Old Boys, was inspired by poet Wilfred Owen who died in the First World War 100 years ago today
Centenary of Armistice – in pictures The St Paul's Cathedral remembrance field, which was opened to commemorate the end of the First World War 100 years ago
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Police are treating the vandalism as racially aggravated criminal damage.
Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick had commissioned the statue to honour the sacrifices made by South Asian service personnel of all faiths from the Indian subcontinent who fought for Britain in the Great War and other conflicts.
Police said they would gather information on the incident at a memorial held by the statue on Sunday.
