A US team inspecting former Soviet military installations in Central Asia has discovered a store of anthrax at an old scientific facility in Kazakhstan, the State Department said today.
Spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said the Defense Department team, working on a long-running US-Russia threat reduction initiative, discovered spores of the rare disease several days ago and were taking medicine in case of accidental exposure.
"They're people that go looking for anthrax," Boucher told reporters at a news briefing just moments before he was interrupted by an announcement over the department's public address system that a suspicious white powder had been discovered in the building.
"They found what they were looking for," he said. "We're just working with them on transportation and stuff like that."
"They're well-protected people," Mr Boucher added, saying there was little cause to think any of them might have been infected. "They're people whose job it is to inspect facilities where there might be this stuff."
He said the Pentagon would be able to provide additional details of the discovery and the nature of the team's mission which is apparently unrelated to the US-led war on terrorism that has now manifested itself in airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan.
Those strikes, aimed at the prime suspect in the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, have prompted widespread fears of possible retaliation, including bio-terrorism, by extremist groups.
The State Department later said the powder discovered in a seventh floor mailroom was not hazardous.
AFP