Federal prosecutors have searched homes and offices of four alleged supporters of a neo-Nazi gang. Around 110 police officers searched the properties in the states of Saxony, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg. The four suspects are believed to have supported the self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU) by providing members of the group with weapons and explosives.

Members of the group are believed to have killed 10 people, mostly immigrants, from 2000 to 2007. In previously unsolved murders blamed on the gang, one Greek and eight Turkish shopkeepers were shot dead in cold blood. The 10th casualty was a German policewoman. The group is also believed to have robbed several banks and carried out bomb explosions in Cologne.

In a police raid in November, two of the group's members, Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, killed themselves just before they were going to be arrested. A third member, Beate Zschäpe, turned herself in and is currently in custody. She faces arson charges for blowing up their apartment, apparently to destroy evidence.

Author: Wilhelmina Lyffyt (DPA, AFP)
Editor: Nancy Isenson