Germans held over police stabbing

Mr Mannichl was stabbed on his doorstep near Passau on Saturday

German police say they have held two people suspected of stabbing a police chief in an apparent neo-Nazi attack.

The suspects were arrested based on a description given by Alois Mannichl, who was seriously injured near the southern city of Passau on Saturday.

A regional prosecutor said the attacker was a skinhead who called Mr Mannichl a "leftist pig" before plunging a knife into him, narrowly missing his heart.

Mr Mannichl, 52, has led a crackdown on neo-Nazis in the state of Bavaria.

The stabbing of the police chief - who is now stable after undergoing emergency surgery - has shocked many in Germany.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Hermann has said if the right-wing theory is confirmed it would mark a serious escalation in neo-Nazi violence.

Swastika flag

The two suspects were arrested in the Passau area early on Monday.

"Mr Mannichl's description fits the two [arrested people]. We're now investigating them," state prosecutor Helmut Walch was quoted as saying by Germany's Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Police released no further details about the suspects.

Mr Mannichl was stabbed on Saturday on the doorstep of his house near Passau by an unidentified man.

Mr Walch said the attacker rang the police chief's doorbell and said before stabbing him: "You're a leftist pig cop, and you will no longer hang around the graves of our comrades."

German officials said the knife missed Mr Mannichl's heart by less than two centimetres (one inch).

The attacker's comments were an apparent reference to this summer's funeral of a regional neo-Nazi leader, who was buried with a Nazi swastika flag, which is banned in Germany.

Mr Mannichl later ordered police to re-open the grave and remove the swastika.