E German 'licence to kill' found

Border guards in East Germany during the Cold War were given clear orders to shoot at attempted defectors, including children, a senior official says.

A newly discovered order is the firmest evidence yet that the communist regime gave explicit shoot-to-kill orders, says Germany's director of Stasi files.

The Stasi was the security ministry of the East German government, which always denied there was such a policy.

The order "is a licence to kill", said the head of a Stasi victims' memorial.