Germany to Purge Its Special Forces From Far-Right Members

Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Tuesday announced a plan to combat right-wing extremism in the Army Special Forces (KSK) by dissolving one of its two companies.

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She warned that the other company will undergo drastic reform and be closely watched until the end of the year. If KSK members still do not act in compliance with constitutional values, the Minister "reserves other measures," as the local outlet Frankfurter Allgemeine reported.

In recent years, these elite forces, which number approximately 1,400 troops, have been implicated in several scandals related to the alleged incorporation of far-right people.

One of them, "Hannibal", was at the head of a network largely made up of the military and police, who gathered ammunition and weapons supposedly to prepare for a future civil war.

There are also indications that some of these neo-nazi cells plotted terrorist attacks against political officials and other public figures.

In May, a KSK agent was arrested for possessing explosives, weapons, and ammunition stolen from the Army. This material was hidden in his house' where he also kept Nazi paraphernalia.

After this case was publicly disclosed, the KSK Commander Markus Kreitmayr published an open letter in which he promised to follow a "zero tolerance" line and warned that his organization is facing "the most difficult phase in its history."

“The wall of silence breaks… the question of reorganizing the KSK will inevitably arise,” the Defense Minister said, as reported by En24 news.