german troops
© EPAThe case, which authorities have called "more than strange," has raised concerns about far-right extremism in Germany's military.
German authorities say a second soldier has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a far-right plot to assassinate politicians and blame the killings on asylum-seekers.

Federal prosecutors said on May 9 that the 27-year-old suspect, identified as Maximilian T., was arrested in the city of Kehl in southwestern Germany on charges of preparing an act of violence.

He was stationed at the same base near Strasbourg as another soldier suspected in the alleged plot, Franco Albrecht, who was taken into custody on April 26.

Prosecutors say they planned to carry out an attack against politicians who support accepting refugees, including former German President Joachim Gauck and Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

Along with another suspect, a 24-year-old student identified as Mathias F., they had hoped the killing would "be seen by the population as a radical Islamist terrorist act committed by a recognized refugee," prosecutors said in a statement.

To that end, Albrecht had created a fraudulent identity as a Syrian refugee and registered himself as an asylum recipient, prosecutors said.

The case, which authorities have called "more than strange," has raised concerns about far-right extremism in Germany's military, though Bundeswehr chief of staff Volker Wieker has said there is no indication that such views are widespread in the armed forces.