Mary Bowerman

USA TODAY Network

Eighteen asylum seekers are among those who allegedly carried out a string of attacks during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne, Germany’s Interior Ministry said Friday.

Police identified 31 suspects in connection with assaults and robberies, at least 18 of whom are asylum seekers, Interior Minister Tobias Plate told reporters on Friday, AP reported.

At least 170 criminal complaints related to the incident have been filed, including 120 of a sexual nature, Cologne police said.

On Friday, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia dismissed Cologne’s police chief, Wolfgang Albers, after heightened criticism over the way police handled the dozens of reports of sexual assaults.

The move was “necessary to restore public trust and the Cologne police’s ability to act, with a view to upcoming major events,” Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger said in a statement, AP reported.

Police initially identified the suspects as up to 1,000 men "of Middle Eastern origin,” but later backtracked as public officials cautioned there was little information on whether those involved were migrants.

According to the police report released Friday, nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians and four Syrians were among the 31 suspects, Plate said, according to the New York Times. The 31 suspects are not believed to have carried out assaults that were sexual in nature, according to AP.

German police investigate New Year's Eve sexual assaults

Police said groups of men robbed and attacked women as the New Year's festivities were in high gear at the main square near the historic cathedral and main train station. The attacks occurred as officers were clearing the crowd from the square for safety concerns because they saw men firing firecrackers into the throngs of celebrants.

Police in Hamburg and Stuttgart said they received similar, but fewer complaints of assaults and robberies that occurred on New Year's, the German daily Die Welt reported.

"What happened in Cologne and in other places in Germany is unacceptable and can't happen again," German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said at the news conference. "This has never happened before, at least not in these dimensions."

The assaults outraged many in the country, and ignited calls for Germany to re-examine its stance on the refugees flooding into Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed 1 million migrants and refugees into Germany in 2015, mainly from war-torn Syria, Iraq and other Muslim countries, saying it was the "right thing to do." But the massive influx also raised concerns about security.

Plate said police are investigating whether the assaults in Cologne were linked to similar assaults in nearby cities, AP reported.

Contributing: Florian Neuhof and Jabeen Bhatti, Special for USA TODAY.