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German neo-Nazi threat discussed at top-level meeting | German neo-Nazi threat discussed at top-level meeting |
(about 6 hours later) | |
German ministers and experts have met in Berlin, in response to allegations that a neo-Nazi cell went undetected for a decade and killed 10 people. | |
Two people have been arrested and two more were found dead during a week of revelations that have shocked Germany. | |
The new Federal Prosecutor, Harald Range, said two further suspects were being investigated for links to the National Socialist Underground group. | |
The government has announced measures to tackle the far-right threat. | |
The existence of the cell emerged only when one alleged member, Beate Zschaepe, surrendered and two others reportedly killed themselves. | |
The two men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, were found dead in a caravan in Eisenach in eastern Germany. | The two men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, were found dead in a caravan in Eisenach in eastern Germany. |
They had left behind a DVD in which they admitted to the 10 killings. Among their alleged victims were nine immigrants - eight from Turkey and one from Greece - and a police officer. | |
Beate Zschaepe, who was wanted in connection with an armed robbery, had blown up her flat in the eastern city of Zwickau before handing herself in. | |
Police have arrested another suspected member of the group. | |
Intelligence failure | Intelligence failure |
Detectives are reopening all unsolved cases stretching back to 1998 in which possible racist motives could have been involved. | Detectives are reopening all unsolved cases stretching back to 1998 in which possible racist motives could have been involved. |
The neo-Nazi cell is also suspected of carrying out a bomb attack in Cologne, in which 23 people were wounded, and a number of bank robberies. | |
Interior Minister Hans Peter-Friedrich said a working group was being set up to consider a possible ban on the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). | |
A previous attempt was rejected by the country's constitutional court in 2003. | |
There are also plans to coordinate the work of the 32 police and domestic intelligence agencies in Germany's 16 Laender or states. Although there is a single federal domestic intelligence service, critics argue that the separate Laender system enabled the neo-Nazi cell to escape detection. | |
One of the most alarming elements of the case is a report that a domestic intelligence agent from Hessen was present either at or before the murder of a Turkish victim in Kassel. He has been described as having overt, far-right sympathies. | |
The federal prosecutor's office took over the inquiry a week ago under anti-terrorism laws. Harald Range, who started in the post on Thursday, would not give further details about the two new suspects linked to the case. | |
But the federal police chief, Joerg Ziercke, said they were investigating whether the neo-Nazi cell had a support network. |
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