(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-17 17:02

A video grab shows police standing guard next to the bodies of victims of a shooting lying on the ground in front of the main train station in the northwestern German town of Duisburg August 15, 2007. [Reuters]

BERLIN -- German police have issued a sketch of a man they say could be linked to Wednesday's execution-style killing of six Italian men in the northwestern city of Duisburg, blamed on a mafia clan feud.

The man was one of two spotted near the scene of the shootings in the early hours of the morning, Duisburg police said in a statement. Witnesses said the men fled the area at high speed in a large, dark-colored car, in the direction of the city zoo.

The sketch, which police said is of the car's driver, shows a dark-haired man, clean-shaven apart from long sideburns and with a dark mole beneath his right eye.

The man has a thin frame and stands at 180-185 centimeters or just over six feet tall, police said.

Investigators believe the Duisburg killings, which took place outside an Italian restaurant, were the latest chapter in a long-running feud between two clans in the region of Calabria, home to the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

On Thursday, Italian police searched houses and set up roadblocks around San Luca, the Calabrian town of 4,000 at the centre of the feud.

Italian secret services said in a report this month that the 'Ndrangheta was the most dangerous crime syndicate in Italy and one of world's top drug trafficking cartels.

The German authorities have said the group established a presence in Germany some years ago. Duisburg police said late on Thursday a 'Ndrangheta member from San Luca they named as Antonio G. had been arrested in an Italian restaurant in the German city in 1991.

Local police were acting after a tip-off from the Italian authorities who were looking for the man in connection with a suspected murder. He had gone to ground in the Ruhr valley area around Duisburg and been working at various jobs.

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