Germany: Neo-Nazi killer suspected of further attacks

BERLIN

A neo-Nazi extremist who killed a pro-refugee German politician in June is also suspected of carrying out a knife attack on an asylum seeker in 2016, local media reported on Friday.

Stephan Ernst, the 45-year-old extremist, was arrested last month, several weeks after conservative politician Walter Luebcke was found shot dead at his home's garden in the central German city of Kassel.

Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly, reported that the far-right extremist, who admitted to the killing of the politician, is now also suspected of being the perpetrator of a knife attack on an Iraqi asylum seeker in Kassel in 2016.

The victim survived the attack but to date the incident remained unsolved.

Kassel prosecutors confirmed on Friday that Ernst’s house was searched over suspicion that he might have been involved in another crime in the past, but they declined to give any details.

German police recorded over 19,000 far-right crimes in 2018, according to the latest government figures, with extremists committing over 1,000 violent attacks on foreigners, immigrants or political rivals.

At least 498 people were injured in attacks inspired by far-right ideologies, say the figures.

Germany has witnessed growing xenophobia and anti-migrant hatred in recent years, fuelled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the Islamophobic far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.