Berlin - The German Defence Minister, Mr Volker Ruehe, denied yesterday that extreme right-wingers were targeting the Bundeswehr, the German federal army, in an organised campaign of infiltration aimed at training an armed neo-nazi cadre, Denis Staunton reports. The extreme right-wing National Democratic party (NPD) has threatened to take the Bundeswehr to the constitutional court in an effort to reverse the expulsion from the army of some of its members.
Germany's intelligence services are investigating two retired Bundeswehr generals suspected of links with extreme right-wing groups. Security sources warn that neo-nazi groups could use military skills learned during Bundeswehr training to mount a major terrorist campaign in Germany.
Speaking during a swearing-in ceremony for soldiers in Lower Saxony, Mr Ruehe insisted that recent neo-nazi scandals in the Bundeswehr were the work of a few individuals and that the problem of extremism in the army was not widespread.