BERLIN — Hundreds of unsolved killings and attempted killings in Germany over the past two decades may have been committed by far-right extremists, officials said Wednesday.
The admission comes two years after police acknowledged that a series of murders they had linked to immigrant criminal groups was likely the work of a secretive neo-Nazi group.
The case prompted a fundamental review of Germany’s security services, including the way they classify crimes.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said authorities have completed an initial review of more than 3,300 unsolved cases between 1990 and 2011, looking for signs of a possible far-right motive.
‘‘In a total of 746 cases across Germany there were leads in that direction,’’ Hendrik Loerges said in Berlin.
‘‘Let me stress that at the moment there are only indications that may not stand up to scrutiny,’’ he said.
The revelation was welcomed by anti-racism activists, who have long criticized the criteria used by authorities to decide whether a hate crime has been committed.