THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A German neo-Nazi terrorist group responsible for a spree of murders and bombings across Germany had a hit list of 88 possible targets including prominent politicians.
Investigators said they had found the list as they probed the brutal world of the self-styled National Socialist Underground, a gang believed to have shot dead nine men of immigrant background and a policewoman.
The gang's end only came this month after a failed bank robbery led to two of its three members committing suicide and the survivor handing herself into the police after destroying their hideout in the east German town of Zwickau.
Along with politicians the names of leaders from Germany's large Turkish and Islamic communities were also found on the list.
The number 88 is apparently code for Adolf Hitler in neo-Nazi circles because the letter H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and is code for 'Heil Hitler'.
As police tried to ascertain whether the three-person group was actively plotting to kill people on the list, those named reacted with shock.
"This is a dreadful feeling for me," Jerzy Montag, a leading Green politician from Munich told Spiegel Online. "The fact that the known members of the terror cell have been deactivated does not mean that this is over. If someone can think this up, then there could also be others."
Hans-Peter Uhl from the governing Christian Democrats also expressed his bewilderment at being listed by the gang.
"When I heard that my name was on the list, I was shocked," he said, adding that he was trying to work out why the group would target him. » | Matthew Day | Wednesday, November 16, 2011
