Suspected racist attack on German-Turkish soldier

BERLIN (AA) - A German soldier with Turkish roots was assaulted by two men in Berlin on Monday in a suspected racist hate attack.

The police said in a statement that the assailants punched and kicked the 25-year-old soldier from behind while he was walking in his military uniform in Berlin’s Neukoelln district.

Before fleeing the scene, one of the assailants shouted at him and said he didn’t have the right to wear a German military uniform, according to the statement.

The soldier received treatment for minor injuries at a nearby hospital.

The incident is the latest in a string of xenophobic attacks in the capital in recent months targeting immigrants or people of foreign appearance.

Germany has witnessed growing xenophobia and anti-migrant hatred in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the Islamophobic far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Every day, at least three people become victims of racist or xenophobic acts of violence in the country, according to human rights organizations.