The German government Monday condemned the "cold-hearted and cowardly" mob that tried to stop a bus from taking migrants to a shelter for asylum seekers, calling the ugly episode "deeply shameful".

About 100 people in the Saxony town of Clausnitz shouted "We are the people" and tried to block the bus carrying about 20 asylum seekers on Thursday night.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday threw her weight behind Prime Minister David Cameron's reform demands as EU leaders readied a make-or-break summit on Britain's future in the bloc.

"These are not just about Britain's individual interests on some issues or questions, rather it is about several points that are justified and understandable," Merkel told parliament in Berlin.

German prosecutors Tuesday said human error was to blame for a train crash that killed 11 people and charged a 39-year-old signaling worker with negligence leading to the accident.

"If he had complied with the rules ... then there would have been no collision between the trains," said Wolfgang Giese, the prosecutor who led the investigation into last Tuesday's accident in southern Germany.

Europe's deep divisions on how to handle the mass refugee influx are playing into the hands of the Islamic State jihadist group, Germany's defense minister warned Friday.

"The historic mission of Europe for the past 70 years, to be a symbol of freedom and values, threatens to be drowned out by xenophobia and nationalism," said Ursula von der Leyen.

Germany said Friday's agreement to end hostilities in Syria must be put into action, putting the onus primarily on Russia which Berlin accused of scuppering peace talks through its military offensive.

"The words must be followed with deeds. And here the government puts Russia first under the obligation to do so," said Christiane Wirzt, government spokeswoman.

German investigators raced Wednesday to determine what caused a train crash that killed 10 people, warning it was too early to draw conclusions as media reports claimed human error was to blame.

Two trains traveling at high speeds crashed head-on Tuesday on a single track in one of Germany's deadliest accidents in years, with one slicing the other apart, ripping a large gash in its side.

German authorities were investigating how two commuter trains fitted with automatic braking systems to prevent accidents collided in southern Germany Tuesday, leaving at least ten dead and dozens injured.

Rescuers were still searching for one missing person in the mangled wreckage in a wooded area near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Munich, although police said there was now little hope of finding the victim alive.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Ankara next week for talks with Turkey's prime minister, her spokesman said Friday, as she seeks to cut the flow of refugees into the EU.

Merkel will meet with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday to discuss "the further implementation of the EU-Turkey action plan" agreed in November to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving in the bloc.

The huge flow of migrants and refugees to Europe via Turkey must be slowed, the interior ministers of France and Germany said Friday after inspecting registration facilities in Greece.

The goal "cannot just be to register arriving refugees and to relocate them equitably (but above all) to reduce the flow," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said at the close of the two-day visit.

The German government and the country's skilled craft sector on Friday launched an initiative to offer 10,000 refugees on-the-job training places as the shortfall in qualified workers in Europe's biggest economy continues to grow.

The German education ministry and the national Confederation of Skilled Crafts, or ZDH, said in a joint statement that they would offer apprenticeships to 10,000 asylum-seekers between April 2016 and April 2018.