Leading US politician target of latest anthrax attack

11.00 am - By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

WASHINGTON - America's political heart yesterday became the latest target in the spate of anthrax attacks when it was revealed that a letter containing the potentially deadly bacteria had been sent to the leader of the Senate.

President George Bush was the first to confirm that a letter sent to Majority leader Tom Daschle contained a powdery substance that tested positive for anthrax.

As security at the Capitol was increased to unprecedented levels, a number of the 40 staff in Mr Daschle's office were treated with antibiotics for "exposure".

Mr Bush said the spate of incidents involving anthrax may be linked to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network.

"I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have any hard evidence," he said. "The key thing for the American people is to be cautious."

The latest incident – coming after incidents in Florida, New York and Nevada - involved a letter sent to Mr Daschle's private office in a building close to the Capitol.

The FBI confirmed that the postmark was Trenton, New Jersey, the same as the letter containing infected powder that was sent to television anchor Tom Brokaw. It was revealed last week that an aide at his New York office had been infected after opening the letter.

Mr Daschle said the letter had been opened by a female member of staff at around 10.30 am and that a powdery substance fell out. "I am concerned deeply for my staff. I am very angry," Mr Daschle said during a hastily arranged press conference outside the Capitol.

"I would say without equivocation our staff feels very confident about their circumstances. They have been given assurances that there is no immediate danger for them given that we were able to respond that quickly and as directly as we could. As soon as it became clear there was a suspicious substance in the envelope, we contacted the Capitol police and the Capitol physician."

After anthrax attacks on the media and then on one of America's largest private companies, Microsoft, Washington's political elite had been expecting it might be next. But such expectation did little to calm the unease once it emerged that the already tight-security surrounding the United States' government had been so easily breached.

Immediately plans were put in place to divert other mail and to increase security even further. All tours of the Capitol were immediately cancelled. One Capitol Hill worker, said: "There is a mix of panic and black humour. People had been saying that we might be next. It is not as though we were unprepared. At the same time there were a couple of aides from Daschle's office who were looking rather grey about this."

The latest anthrax came on the day that the US carried out its heaviest day of bombing yet against targets across Afghanistan. Warplanes struck a training camp where Mr bin Laden first lived when he moved to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996, while in the capital, Kabul, residents reportedly fled their homes as jets struck an abandoned military base north of the city.

At the same time Afghanistan's anti-Taleban Northern Alliance said its forces had advanced toward the main northern Taleban-held city of Mazar-i-Sharif, taking two towns and moving to within striking distance of the airport.

Amid signs in both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan of increasingly vocal opposition to the US and British bombing raids, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, arrived in Islamabad where he will try to bolster support for the US from the government of General Pervez Musharraf.

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