BERLIN—

The German government says far-right extremists are behind offshoots of the anti-Islam group PEGIDA in six of the country’s 16 states.
 
The government says far-right extremists were found to be “steering or influencing” groups in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.
 
Saxony, where the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West began staging protests more than a year ago, wasn’t among those states.
 
PEGIDA has denied it is influenced to far-right extremists, though neo-Nazis are visibly present at its weekly demonstrations in Dresden.
 
The government response to a parliamentary query was first published Wednesday by German daily Thueringer Allgemeine.