Nazi pictures stir row

Senior Republican politicians in the United States are distancing themselves from a House candidate from Ohio who wore a Nazi uniform during re-enactments of World War II battles.

Rich Iott, part of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, has admitted being a member of a group that re-enacted SS battles.

Pictures of him dressed in a Nazi uniform emerged on the internet at a time when Republicans fear the growing support for the Tea Party movement may hurt the party at the polls.

Iott said he had been involved in re-enacting from many different eras and did not mean "any disrespect to anyone" in the US military.