German spy chief steps down over terror probe

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has quit. Heinz Fromm is stepping down amid mounting criticism of errors made in the investigation of a neo-Nazi terror cell, the National Socialist Underground. It emerged his office had shredded important documents relating to the case.

The neo-Nazi group was responsible for Germany’s worst acts of far-right violence since the Second World War.

Police discovered the bodies of the gang’s two ringleaders, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt last November. A third member, Beate Zschäpe, was caught and arrested. She is still being questioned.

Officials admitted that domestic intelligence agents, who had been keeping the gang under surveillance for more than a decade, had destroyed files containing information about the group.

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