A Ukip general election candidate who likened Israelis to the Nazis over their treatment of the Palestinians has been suspended by the party.
In a 2014 tweet, Wiltshire North candidate Paddy Singh wrote: "The Israelis are basically Nazis in mentality. The survivors of the tragic holacast [sic] learnt from their captors." Another said: "No hope of a ceasefire with the Nazi Jews like wild dogs on the rampage." He also made derogatory comments about Africans and the Chinese.
The tweets were discovered by anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate, which described his Twitter account as "a reliable fount of wild racism and antisemitism".
Mr Singh confirmed to the BBC that he had sent the tweets, adding that he had "never been racist" and had not meant to cause offence. He was "just trying to comment on certain articles in anger".
Ukip said it would launch a full investigation and had suspended the candidate's membership.
Mr Singh received only 49 votes when he stood for the party in the recent Wiltshire Council elections.
