Arson considered in German immigrant fire

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany (CNN) -- Police have refused to rule out arson as the cause of a blaze that killed at least nine people - including five children -- at a southwest Germany apartment building Sunday.

The four-story apartment building in Ludwigshafen is home to several Turkish immigrant families, and was the target of an Molotov cocktail attack two years ago, police told CNN Wednesday.

Two petrol bombs were thrown into the building in the dead of night in August 2006, authorities said. No one was hurt in that attack, and police never caught the culprits.

Police also said Wednesday that neo-Nazi graffiti had been discovered at a Turkish cultural center which is part of the building, The Associated Press reported. Police spokesman Michael Lindner said "hass", which is German for hate, was scrawled twice, with the final two letters written in the style of the "SS" Nazi script.

Lindner added that the graffiti must have been added before the fire as the scene has been cordoned off since Sunday's blaze.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the blaze, asking whether racism was the cause. He added that four police officers from Turkey and a government official would head to Germany to investigate the scene themselves.

Two girls have said they witnessed a man setting fire to something near to a baby stroller. The girls are now working with authorities on sketching a likeness.

State officials will hold a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the gutted building Wednesday afternoon to remember the victims who died in the fire.

The building went up in flames on Sunday afternoon while revelers were celebrating Carnival. The blaze quickly spread, eating up a wooden staircase that soon gave way.

Panicked parents tossed their children from windows and into the waiting hands of firefighters before they themselves jumped, trying to land in rescue nets. Firefighters battled through the evening and into the night to bring the blaze under control.

In what became a defining moment of the incident, photographs of an infant boy thrown from a fourth-floor window was broadcast worldwide. See pictures of baby thrown to safety »

The boy, Onur Celar, was caught by a policeman and unhurt. His father is reportedly in a coma and the mother is believed to have left hospital. Authorities have given varying ages for the little boy, sometimes saying he is 11-months-old, other times saying he is 6-months-old.

In addition to the nine fatalities, at least 60 people were injured. German police say that the building housed two Turkish families, according to AP, with 24 people overall registered as resident -- although the exact numbers inside at the time of the blaze remain uncertain.

Ludwigshafen is a port city on the west bank of the Rhine River. It is noted for its large chemical industry and is a gateway to the wine-growing region of the Rhine.

The carnival tradition stems from the Catholic regions in the west and south of Germany. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Brazil, it's a time when residents dress up and take to the streets in celebration. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report

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