White powder scare closes Colombo U.S. Embassy
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 14:05 GMT]
United States Embassy officials in Colombo ordered complete closure of the embassy after mysterious white powder in a paper container was recovered in the visa section Wednesday 11:00 a.m., sources in Colombo said.
Officials have sent samples of the powder for forensic tests, and the Embassy will reopen only after the identification, and subsequent determination as to the lethality or not of the powder. Anthrax, also known as Amerithrax from its FBI case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. The crime remains unsolved.
Chronology:
|