British crack down on bioterrorism

Good to see that the British have not entirely given in yet. Maybe they will survive!


Britain’s laboratories have been ordered to strengthen security on stocks of more than 100 deadly viruses and bacteria after an MI5 warning that Islamic terrorists are training in germ warfare. The biological agents include polio, rabies, tuberculosis and avian flu. Food poisoning bacteria such as E. coli and the sources of a number of rare tropical and Middle Eastern illnesses are also included.

Scientists and laboratory staff in universities, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies who deal with agents will have to be vetted by police, and their laboratories will be checked by government safety inspectors. Stock will have to be regularly audited. The crackdown comes after MI5 privately warned the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that al-Qaeda was actively recruiting scientists. Extremist groups are known to have targeted students, offering to fund courses in return for using their newly acquired expertise.

Last November Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the Director-General of MI5, gave warning that terror attacks in Britain could involve weapons of mass destruction.

She said that terrorists were seeking the means to mount a range of attacks using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices. “We know that the aspiration is there, we know attempts to gather materials are there, we know that attempts to gather technologies are there,” she said.

Terrorists use WMD in attack

I guess there are no WMDs in Iraq. Stupid people are ignoreing this. Thanks to Americas North Shore Journal for this link.

AR RAMADI, Iraq – Emergency Response Unit personnel, Iraqi Police, and civilians northwest of Ramadi were attacked by a suicide vehicle-born improvised explosive device (SVBIED) early Sunday [Jan 28, 2007]. Coalition forces responded to the attack to provide immediate medical assistance and evacuate the wounded to medical facilities.

Along with the suicide bomber, 16 people were killed by the attack.

The SVBIED was a dump truck filled with explosives and included a chlorine tank. The truck crashed into the Emergency Response Unit compound and detonated. There are no indications of any casualties caused by the release of chlorine gas.

The Al Jazeera Police and U.S. Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 37th Infantry Brigade responded to the scene and worked together to evacuate the casualties. The majority of the casualties were evacuated to the U.S. medical facility at Camp Ramadi. Some victims of the attack were evacuated to Coalition medical facilities in Balad and Baghdad.

Emergency Response Units serve as a quick reaction force to augment and support the police in Anbar province. They are made up of Iraqi citizens and are led by the commander of the Iraqi Police in Anbar.