Germany to pay families of immigrants killed by neo-Nazis

Germany has pledged to compensate families of victims of neo-Nazi killings moving to calm anger over suspicions that a far-right cell killed at least ten people over a decade without being caught.

Government officials pledged at the weekend to get to the bottom of the killings and improve co-ordination to prevent what chancellor Angela Merkel called a national disgrace from happening again.

Germany’s parliament, chancellery, and presidency also agreed to hold a national memorial service.

Members of the neo-Nazi cell, called the National Socialist Underground, are suspected of having killed at least nine immigrants between 2000 and 2007 – eight Turks and a Greek – and a policewoman. The group was discovered only by chance when two members apparently took their own lives after a bank robbery, and fears have risen that security services may have underplayed the threat from the extreme right.