Anthrax suspect sues U.S. over probe

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A former researcher at an Army lab has sued the United States for casting suspicion on him for the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were named in the lawsuit by Steven Hatfill, 48, USA Today said Wednesday.

Hatfill says top Justice and FBI officials violated his constitutional rights "to promote their own personal and political interests" when the investigation into anthrax-laced letters stalled last summer.

Five people died and thousands were forced to take antibiotics after anthrax-laden letters were mailed to media outlets and two U.S. senators in the fall of 2001.

For a year, FBI agents have kept Hatfill, a former researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., under round-the-clock surveillance, following him everywhere he goes.