Two asylum seekers suspected in rape and murder of Jewish girl in Germany

Two Middle Eastern asylum seekers are the suspects in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Jewish girl in Germany.

Two male asylum seekers from the Middle East are suspects in the rape and murder of a teenage Jewish girl in Germany, JTA reported.

The girl, identified as Susanna F., had been missing since May 22, the report said. Her body was found Wednesday outside the city of Wiesbaden in western Germany.

The suspects are 20-year old Ali Bashar from Iraq and an unnamed 35-year-old man from Turkey.

Police believe the girl, who lived in Mainz, near Frankfurt, was strangled to death on the day she went missing. She was dating the 20-year-old, the Wiesbadener Tagblatt daily reported.

Wiesbaden senior public prosecutor Oliver Kuhn confirmed that both suspects “lived in refugee centers in Wiesbaden,” according to Reuters.

Bashar is believed to have fled to Iraq with his family, police said. The second suspect was detained.

Kuhn said investigators believed the girl was a victim of “a collective rape and murder.”

“A young life has been put in a cruel way. Our deep compassion applies to relatives and friends,” the Central Council of Jews in Germany posted on Facebook Thursday.

“Many of the details of the case are still unclear. We expect a rapid and comprehensive investigation from the prosecutorial authorities and hard consequences for the perpetrator or perpetrators,” the group said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Wiesbaden police said there was no evidence that the girl’s religion played a role in the crime.