Police in the Ruhr Valley town of Hagen are using helicopters and jeeps to search for five neo-Nazi youths who attacked and tortured three girls, ages 12 and 13, last week.
The incident occurred April 18 in a woods near Menden, another town in North Rhine-West-phalia, while the girls were on their way to a playground. One of them reportedly was Iranian.
Police believe the youths who accosted them were members of a neo-Nazi paramilitary group between the ages of 16 and 20 who went to the woods on a training exercise.
They forced their victims to strip and then daubed their bodies with swastikas. The girls also were allegedly forced to kneel down, say “Heil Hitler” and sing Nazi songs.
The attacks preceded a flare-up of neo-Nazi activity on April 20, the 101st anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. Last Friday evening, about 200 neo-Nazi Skinheads marauded through East Berlin, attacking both civilians and police.
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