The British embassy in Indonesia has received a letter containing white powder, which proved negative for anthrax, a spokesman said on Thursday. The incident marks the second case this week in Indonesia involving suspicious powder being sent through the mail since the anthrax scare emerged in the United States. The spokesman said that the letter was received on Wednesday. ''We went through our usual procedures. And the room where the letter was opened was closed,'' the spokesman said, adding that the embassy was operating normally on Thursday. Testing by a laboratory had shown the powder was not anthrax, he said. The letter was not addressed to anyone in particular and had no address of the sender on the envelope. The Australian embassy in Jakarta received a letter containing white powder on Monday. That also proved negative for anthrax.
Anthrax, a potentially deadly bacteria, has killed four people among 17 confirmed cases in the United States. There have also been a series of hoaxes around the world.
US President George W Bush has called the anthrax cases in America a second wave of terrorism after the September hijack attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 4,800 people.
Both Australia and Britain are part of Washington's coalition in the global war on terror.
Bureau Report