German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the relatives of ten people murdered by a neo-Nazi cell for forgiveness for crimes she described as a disgrace and an attack on German democracy. The German government hosted a memorial ceremony for the victims -- eights Turks, one Greek, and a German policewoman.

Few in Germany had believed that an extreme right-wing group could be behind the killings, and police instead looked at drug rings, mafia, and even the families of the victims. Revelations last November that neo-Nazis were responsible stunned Germany, and many were in disbelief that the group, which called itself the National Socialist Underground, went undetected for more than a decade.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave this statement, "The murders by the Thuringian [belonging to the German state of Thuringia] terror cell were also an attack on our country. They are a disgrace for our country."

The cell was exposed after police investigating a suicide and arson incident uncovered Nazi paraphernalia and weapons. The murders are the worst case of extreme right-wing violence in Germany since World War II, and police have reopened many unsolved cases from after 1998 to look for a possible neo-Nazi motive.

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