Germany has handed back the human remains of indigenous people killed during a genocide in colonial Namibia more than 100 years ago.

A Namibian government delegation received the remains at a church service in the German capital, Berlin.

There are thought to be hundreds of Namibian skulls in Germany and on Wednesday more than 25 remains were handed back.

The bones had been sent to Germany for now-discredited research to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

Tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were murdered in response to an anti-colonial uprising. Their descendants are still waiting for an apology from the German government.

Skulls from Germany's other African colonies, including modern day Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Togo, were also used in the discredited studies.

The genocide began in 1904 after a Herero and Nama rebellion in response to the German expropriation of their land and cattle.