WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Investigators sifting through congressional mail that had been quarantined since a letter containing anthrax was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., have found a similar letter sent to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
The new letter "appears to contain anthrax," the FBI said in a statement released Friday evening. The letter also appeared to be from the same source as that sent to Daschle, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post newspaper.
Within the last few days, the FBI and U.S. Postal Service inspectors in Northern Virginia have been going through tens of thousands of pieces of mail that had piled up since the anthrax letter was sent to Daschle's office last month.
At one point, the anthrax threat had closed most of the public buildings on Capitol Hill.
Nationwide, four people have died since the threat was first identified in mid-October.
Tens of thousands more have gone through nasal swab testing and at least began a regime of antibiotics to combat possible contagion.
The entire FBI statement said:
"FBI and U.S. Postal Service investigators examining sequestered congressional mail have found another letter which appears to contain anthrax. The as yet unopened letter, addressed to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, has an Oct. 9, 2001, Trenton, New Jersey, postmark and appears in every respect to be similar to the other anthrax-laced letters.
"The letter was located in one of more than 250 barrels of unopened mail sent to Capitol Hill and held since the discovery of an anthrax letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on Oct. 15.
"Hazardous materials experts began the process of sorting the quarantined Congressional mail earlier this week at a facility in Northern Virginia.
Further testing will be conducted in an effort to confirm the presence of anthrax and examine its contents to compare it with that found in the other letters."
