Hungary Failing To Solve Roma Murders

Police declined to comment on the case.

Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics promised to toughen legislation for crimes involving weapons and put police in every village by the end of the year, but said police could not erase the country's rising ethnic tensions.

"We have not been able to track down the perpetrators of these crimes even though we have a 95 percent detection rate in homicide cases overall," Draskovics told parliament.

"The real change will have to happen inside us," Draskovics said. "The fight against hatred is not a police job."

Monday's killings in Tatarszentgyorgy, 65 km southeast of Budapest, were the latest in a series of more than a dozen attacks on Roma in which 7 people have died over the past year.

It was not known whether the attack was racially motivated, but Roma community leaders said it bore eerie similarities with other attacks and indicated systemic aggression on Roma.

Police declined to comment on the case.

The Roma community is Hungary's largest minority making up 5 to 7 percent of the population of 10 million. Recession and job losses are stoking resentment against the Roma in Hungary.