New chief for papal guard

Tuesday 02 June 1998 23:02 BST

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THE POPE has appointed Swiss the army colonel Pius Segmuller as commander of the Vatican's Swiss Guard, the elite force responsible for the pontiff's security. Lt Elmar Theodor Mader, 34, was appointed deputy commander.

Col Segmuller, 46, succeeds Alois Estermann, who was shot dead by a guardsman shortly after his nomination on 4 May. In the first murders to take place within the Vatican walls for centuries, the guardsman, Cedric Tornay, killed Cdr Estermann and his wife before turning the gun on himself.

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