Washington, Nov 13: An envelope from Pakistan containing a suspicious white powder caused a bio-terrorism scare at the Washington Post, authorities said. Tests at the scene determined the white powder was harmless, district of Colombia Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said.
"Whatever it is, it's not harmful. We don't know what it is," he said.
Etter said an employee at the daily's downtown Washington office yesterday found the powder when she opened the envelope, which had a return address in Pakistan. The envelope was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said.
Two years ago, powder-filled envelopes containing the deadly anthrax bacteria were mailed to media organisations, members of the US Congress and other targets.
Those attacks killed five people, infected 20 others and caused the evacuation and micro-cleansing of several post offices and other places where the letters were received, including the US capitol.
Those crimes remain unsolved.
On Friday, 11 post offices in the Washington area were closed after a routine air sample at a mail sorting center tested positive for anthrax. The post offices re-opened a day later when no anthrax was found.
Bureau Report