Germany vows better police work after neo-Nazi killing spree

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

A supporter of the German far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) holds a flag depicting a German WWII soldier in this file photo. Hürriyet photo

The German government admitted gross failures by the security services in dealing with a new brand of far-right "terrorism" today, after revelations of a decade-long killing spree by neo-Nazis.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said it was still unclear whether a group of extremists who admitted gunning down nine businessmen of foreign origin and a policewoman had a larger network behind them.

"It is deeply troubling that there was no connection made between the murder series across Germany and the far-right scene in Thuringia," the east German state where the trio was based, Friedrich told the daily Bild.

"State interior ministers are calling for better coordination between police and domestic intelligence on the state level. I strongly back that."

Federal prosecutors launched the probe after the discovery last week of a pistol used in the murder of the nine people in the home of a 36-year-old woman, Beate Zschaepe, a self-confessed neo-Nazi.

Wanted by police for questioning over an armed robbery in the eastern city of Jena on November 4, she had turned herself in after blowing up a rented flat in the eastern town of Zwickau.

Two suspects in the Jena robbery, who were close to Zschaepe in the neo-Nazi scene, were found dead in a caravan shortly afterwards. Investigators believe the two committed suicide.

It was inside the caravan police found another firearm, that of the policewoman killed by a shot to her head in the southern town of Heilbronn in 2007.

In a chilling DVD left behind by the two men, Uwe Mundlos, 38, and Uwe Boehnhardt, 34, they admitted to the unsolved murders of eight businessmen of Turkish origin and a Greek between 2000 and 2006 as well as the policewoman.

A judge issued a detention order for Zschaepe late Sunday.

Bild reported that the killers had shot many of their victims in the face at point-blank range and even filmed their bloodied bodies as trophies.

News weekly Der Spiegel said they also admitted in the video to a nail bomb attack against Turkish immigrants in Cologne in which several were injured.

On Sunday, police arrested a 37-year-old alleged accomplice identified only as Holger G. near the northern city of Hanover.

"There is no doubt this represents a new dimension of far-right violence which is why federal prosecutors are investigating accusations of formation of a terrorist organisation," Friedrich said.

"The probe by the federal prosecutor's office and federal police will quickly determine whether the three known perpetrators have a larger network behind them."

Media at the weekend speculated about the formation of a "Brown Army Faction" of violent extremists -- a far-right version of the now-defunct far-left Red Army Faction that killed more than 30 people between the 1970s and 1990s.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock over the crimes and pledged that German authorities would track down all those responsible.

"The loved ones of the victims can be sure that (Germany) will do everything to get to the bottom of this affair," Merkel told ARD public television.