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Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters, a confidant of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's, took responsibility for mishandling the case and resigned in July, closely followed by the chief federal prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl. The head of the antiterrorism division, Rainer Hoffmeyer, has been sharply criticized and may be forced to resign. There have been so many demands for reforming or disbanding GSG-9 that Kohl paid a highly publicized visit to the unit to praise the dead officer and deplore "attempts to make a martyr of his murderer."
The Red Army Faction may have gained new vitality. "If you don't allow us . . . to live," said an R.A.F. communique, "then you must understand that your elites also cannot live." The group's leadership has once again gone to ground, and security forces are on the alert. More assassination attempts, officials warn, can be expected.