Report: Anthrax evidence 'cirmcumstantial'

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Most of the evidence amassed against a U.S. scientist suspected of orchestrating the 2001 anthrax letter attacks was largely circumstantial, sources say.

An unnamed source close to the investigation of U.S. Army scientist Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide last week, said FBI investigators had no direct link between him and the letter attacks. A grand jury sifting through the indirect evidence was planning to meet for several more weeks, The New York Times reported Monday.

The source said while DNA analysis had traced the letters to a specific batch of weaponized anthrax bacteria produced at Fort Detrick, Md., where Ivins worked, at least 10 people had access to the flask containing that anthrax, the Times said.

FBI investigators also could not place Ivins in New Jersey on the dates the letters containing the anthrax was mailed, the source said. Instead, investigators had an array of "damning" circumstantial evidence against Ivins in the attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17 others, the newspaper said.