Cologne police arrest two for New Year attacks

After photos of suspects were published on Tuesday, police arrested a 26-year-old Algerian who was recognized in Kerpen, near Cologne on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, Ulrich Bremer.

A second man, a 31-year-old Iraqi who had recognized himself in one of the photos, surrendered at a police station in Hamm, northeast of Cologne.

The Algerian national has been accused of being part of a group involved in the sexual assault and attempted robbery of a woman. The Iraqi man is suspected of making insulting sexual comments to a woman and her family.

Investigators in Cologne say they received 1,120 criminal complaints from victims saying they were attacked - either physically or verbally - during a series of attacks on New Year's Eve by gangs of young men outside the central railway station in the shadow of the city's Medieval cathedral.

Police said they were investigating 110 individuals and had 13 men in custody. Court cases are already underway.

Following the attacks there was a general sense of shock and demands for measures to be taken. The police chief has resigned and far-right parties have seized on a growing unease of Germany's acceptance of more than a million asylum seekers as Europe grapples with the largest migrant crisis since World War II.

jar/jm (AP, dpa, AFP)