JERUSALEM: A former Palestinian cabinet minister yesterday said Yasser Arafat's bodyguards recently intercepted a mailed package containing anthrax in what he described as an attempted assassination. An Arafat adviser dismissed the claim as baseless.
Hani Al Hassan, until recently interior minister responsible for security, said Arafat's guards received a package from the Far East three weeks ago. The package raised suspicion and was sent to a laboratory for examination, Al Hassan told the Lebanese TV station LBC. "They found that the box contained anthrax," Al Hassan said. "It was an assassination attempt committed against our president."
Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdineh denied such incident had occurred. |