Two suspects detained with 155 kilograms of pyrotechnic explosives may have links to a neo-Nazi terrorist group, German DPA news agency reported, citing a local prosecutor’s office. One reportedly had an explosive device bearing a swastika and SS signs.

The explosives were found in a private flat in Lauterecken in western Germany on December 29. A local prosecutor’s office said the suspects may belong to a neo-Nazi group called the ‘Oldschool Society,’ DPA reports.

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In addition to the explosives, investigators found an improvised explosive device bearing a swastika and SS runes, according to the report.

The detention of the two men and seizure of the pyrotechnic explosives was reported earlier in January by the prosecutor’s office itself. One suspect was caught with 110 kilograms of the material, and the other with 45, according to their statement, which stressed that the priority of the investigation was to find out if they had connections to far-right extremists.

The statement added that investigators were also tasked with finding out if the suspects had planned to set off an explosion during the New Year’s celebrations in the center of the nearby town of Kaiserslautern – a charge they denied.

The suspects, aged 18 and 24, both denied all charges, describing themselves as “amateur pyrotechnicians” and claiming the explosives were meant to be used during New Year Eve’s celebrations.

The ‘Oldschool Society’ came into the spotlight in 2015 when German police arrested four members of the neo-Nazi group during an anti-terrorist raid. In January of 2016, it was revealed that the four, identified in the local media as Andreas H., 57, Markus W., 40, Denise Vanessa G., 23, and Olaf O., 47, had been planning to bomb refugee centers and assassinate Islamist clerics.

The ‘Oldschool Society’ had allegedly sent Markus W. and Denise Vanessa G. to the Czech Republic, where they attempted to buy a large quantity of explosive materials, while Andreas H. had been working on how to increase the power of their nail bombs.

The four extremists began meeting in November of 2014, well before the massive influx of refugees reached current record levels, and launched a Facebook group to disseminate their ideas and recruit followers.

According to a Spiegel report, their Facebook cover at the time was an infamous photo of the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp that read “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”).</s>Two suspects detained with 155 kilograms of pyrotechnic explosives may have links to a neo-Nazi terrorist group, German DPA news agency reported, citing a local prosecutor's office. One reportedly had anThe explosives were found in a private flat in Lauterecken in western Germany on December 29. A local prosecutor's office said the suspects' DPA reports.In addition to the explosives, investigators found an improvised explosive device bearing a swastika and SS runes, according to the report.The detention of the two men and seizure of the pyrotechnic explosives was reported earlier in January by the prosecutor's office itself. One suspect was caught with 110 kilograms of the material, and the other with 45, according to their statement, which stressed that the priority of the investigation was to find out if they had connections to far-right extremists.The statement added that investigators were also tasked with finding out if the suspects had planned to set off an explosion during the New Year's celebrations in the center of the nearby town of Kaiserslautern - a charge they denied.The suspects, aged 18 and 24, both denied all charges, describing themselves as "amateur pyrotechnicians" and claiming the explosives were meant to be used during New Year Eve's celebrations.The 'Oldschool Society' came into the spotlight in 2015 whenThe 'Oldschool Society' had allegedly sent Markus W. and Denise Vanessa G. to the Czech Republic, where they attempted to buy a large quantity of explosive materials, while Andreas H. had been working on how to increase the power of their nail bombs.The four extremists began meeting in November of 2014, well before the massive influx of refugees reached current record levels, andAccording to a Spiegel report , their Facebook cover at the time was an infamous photo of the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp that read "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work sets you free").</s>At least three suspects were apprehended by Karachi police in overnight raids in different areas of the metropolis on Thursday.

 According to reports, after a cross-fire near Nala Stop at New Karachi, two injured suspects were detained. Police claimed that the suspects, Zeeshan Commando and Muhammad Zeeshan, are wanted in multiple cases.</s>Two alleged supporters of a neo-Nazi terrorist group have been arrested after 155kg of explosives were discovered in Germany.

One suspect had built a homemade bomb emblazoned with a swastika and symbol of the Nazi SS, prosecutors announced on Saturday.

The men, aged 18 and 24, were arrested after the explosives were discovered inside a house in Lauterecken, causing more than 80 local residents to be evacuated from the surrounding area so the material could be safely removed.

The pair denied planning a terror attack when they were arrested in December, SWR television reported, claiming to be amateur pyrotechnics preparing for a New Year’s Eve firework display.

The two men, of German origin, are being held on suspicion of violating explosives laws and preparing a “serious act of state-threatening violence”.

Prosecutors are examining a possible link to the Oldschool Society (OSS), an extremist organisation known to have planned attacks on refugee centres and mosques since it emerged in 2014.

A spokesperson said the teenage suspect told investigators he had attended an OSS meeting in Rhineland-Palatinate state over the summer, the DPA news agency reported.

Four members of the group are already on trial in Munich for allegedly planning an attack on asylum seekers.

Federal prosecutors charged the three men and a woman with “establishing a terror organisation” and preparing attacks using explosives in January 2015.

Officials said members had planned to bomb refugee accommodation in the German town of Borna, and travelled to the Czech Republic to buy pyrotechnics which they planned to make into bombs packed with nails and fuel.

The interior ministry has classified the OSS as a dangerous organisation but it was also dubbed the “stupidest terror group in Germany” by media reporting that members discussed plots openly on Facebook.

A rise in extremism has been documented in Germany since the start of the refugee crisis and a series of terror attacks, with far-right groups including Pegida staging protests against immigration and the “Islamification of Europe”.

Numerous attacks on refugee centres have been documented as part of a rise in political violence by both the right and left wing.

German security services also remain on alert for possible Isis-inspired terror attacks following the massacre at a Berlin Christmas market and two previous attacks over the summer.</s>BERLIN — Germany's highest court is set to decide this week whether to ban the far-right neo-Nazi party, in a case brought by lawmakers who call the group a threat to the country's democratic system.

The controversial case, to be ruled on Tuesday, claims the extremist National Democratic Party (NPD) and its beliefs violate Germany's constitution.

"The NPD is a racist, anti-Semitic, revisionist and anti-democratic party — their ideology clearly springs from (Hitler's) Nazi party," members of the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, said in their opening statement during a three-day court hearing last March.

As Germany grapples with the challenge of integrating more than 1 million refugees who have poured into its borders the past two years, the NPD is escalating its scare tactics and violent attacks, said the lawmakers, who are empowered by law to petition Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.

Many Germans believe it is about time to take action against the party.

"This is an ideologically charged, neo-Nazi party," said Hajo Funke, a political science professor at the Free University of Berlin. "They are very much in favor of violence and a Fourth Reich."

But NPD members are optimistic the court will rule in their favor.

"I am relatively certain there won't be a ban," said Peter Richter, a party member and attorney who has represented the NPD in the case. "The evidence shown in court has not proven the NPD poses a danger for Germany's free democratic order."

The court’s eagerly awaited decision comes as Germany has seen an uptick in right-wing violence that some blame on groups whose views match those of the NPD.

"The last two years have shown the NPD is capable of gathering crowds and inciting them to hateful acts," Stanislaw Tillich, then-president of the Bundesrat, said during the court proceedings. "Violence against people and property, as well as arson attacks on refugee accommodation centers are the consequences of their racist ideas."

In 2015, Germany's domestic security agency attributed 1,408 violent crimes to right-wing extremists — a 42% increase from 2014. Last year's numbers have not yet been released.

Attacks on refugees and refugee shelters have increased nearly fivefold since 2014, according to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. For 2016, 921 attacks were recorded, up from 199 in 2014, the police office said.

But Richter argued the evidence shown in court failed to connect the NPD to recent anti-immigrant attacks. Some critics of the party agreed.

"That violence was never committed by the NPD — they always knew that would be a danger to the party's existence," said Timo Reinfrank, head of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, an organization that fights right-wing violence in Berlin.

Instead, these attacks are linked to supporters of anti-immigrant groups like the grass-roots PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West), and the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, Reinfrank said. Both groups have distanced themselves from the NPD's neo-Nazi ideology.

Reinfrank also said the NPD's declining membership, vacant leadership positions and recent electoral losses suggest the party isn't powerful enough to merit a ban by the court, a move that could make martyrs out of the party's diehards.

"The NPD was thrown out of its last state legislature in elections in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania last year," Reinfrank said. "Now I don't see a reason to ban the NPD. It has no importance anymore."

Christian Kirchberg, a constitutional lawyer in Karlsruhe, said German history might be a factor in the court's decision, despite the NPD's marginal role in politics.

"Germany could be justified in reacting decisively and timely against a revival of national socialist or 'völkisch' ideologies," said Kirchberg, using a German term for racist nationalism.

Richter said the proposed ban was an attempt by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government to look tough on neo-Nazis after failing to stop a series of killings committed by a right-wing terrorist group, the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in the mid-2000s.

German police originally blamed the deaths — dubbed the "Kebab Killings” — on the Turkish mafia because many victims were of Turkish origin. But the discovery of the NSU in 2011 became an embarrassing scandal for Merkel after an investigation found that German police had connections to the group.

A clear connection between the NPD and NSU has never been found.

Even if the Constitutional Court does ban the NPD, Richter said the party plans to appeal at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which has overturned bans on other political parties.

"The European Court upholds a clear criteria for a ban — that a party has to demonstrate a degree of danger to the state," Richter said. "That isn't evident here, so I'm confident a potential ban would fail" in the Strasbourg court.
German police detain two suspects with over 150kg of pyrotechnic explosives and an IED inscribed with a swastika and SS runes, stating the two may have a connection to a neo-Nazi terrorist group.