About a dozen ampules of Russian sarin gas discovered, deadly neurotoxin as used by the Japanese terrorist group. Two of the slain journalists were involved in the discovery. Coincidence? Maybe. Concern about about AQ's biochem possession grows.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Answers

we were bound to find something like this somewhere over there.

Now, if they find anthrax, and it matches the samples from the letters, well, it wouldn't be too surprising.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Note that this report says the killers are Arabs.

BBC Ambushed journalists' bodies found

Border posts were closed after the journalists' deaths

The bodies of four foreign journalists killed in an ambush in Afghanistan on Monday have been recovered.

They were found by militiamen and taken to a hospital in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where they were identified by colleagues.

Australian TV cameraman Harry Burton and Afghan photographer Azizullah Haidari, who both worked for Reuters, Italian Maria Grazia Cutuli, of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, and Spaniard Julio Fuentes, who worked for the Spanish daily El Mundo, were killed after they became separated from a convoy on the road between Jalalabad and the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The group's drivers said two of the vehicles carrying the journalists were forced to stop by six gunmen near the town of Sarobi, about 90 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kabul.

They ordered the group out of the cars and tried to make them walk up a mountain.

When the journalists refused, the gunmen told them: "You think the Taleban are finished? We are still in power and we will have our revenge," Associated Press quoted a driver called Ashiquallah as saying.

Another driver, Mohammed Farrad, said he had heard three or four bursts from a Kalashnikov rifle.

"They took the journalists, and when the journalists turned to look at them, the gunmen shot."

Search for gunmen

Nangarhar provincial police chief Hazrat Ali said his forces are hunting for the killers of the journalists.

"According to my information, they have been killed by Arabs," Mr Ali told AFP news agency.

"I've sent my commanders to the region to investigate and determine where these killers have escaped," he said.

Arab volunteers are known to belong to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and form part of the Taleban militia.

The police chief said efforts were being made to improve security in the province, which fell under the control of Pashtun tribes after the Taleban retreated.

"We have set up checkpoints at different places to stop the entry of unwanted people," said Mr Ali.

'Not Taleban'

An anti-Taleban commander in Jalalabad, Haji Shershah, said the attackers were just robbers and not Taleban fighters.

"They're not Taleban, they are thieves. They just want to put the blame on the Taleban... they were robbing lots of people," he told AP.

Monday's killings bring to seven the number of journalists killed reporting on the war in Afghanistan.

Three others - two French and one German - were killed a week ago in the north of the country when Taleban fighters ambushed an opposition convoy.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Discovery of the sarin gas certainly suggests intent, but not means. The Japanese cult actually made a pretty good showing of just how difficult it is to use sarin with any success. They had already tried a few times before, with nothing to show for us. One of the reasons the subway attack proved effective was that there were numerous panic attacks among the victims. The gas should have been more survivable, and really not that many casualties anyway.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Didn't Iraq have Sarin Gas that was used on their own people?

Could this be the tie into Iraq that the .gov wants/needs?????

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

YES, they used Sarin on whole villiages of Kurds.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

They may not be able to tie it in because, from what I remember, Saddam's sarin was made by Saddam; this is Russian sarin. Reports now say "cases" of it were found. Also, at a veterninary facility, bottles labeled "anthrax" were found but, because the word was written in English, it is thought to be a hoax. They're testing.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

But do we really know it is Russian?

Anyone with access to a printer can make up labels. Could it be just to throw us off track?

Then again, it could be Russian, purchased on the black market no doubt.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

NYPost

SLAIN REPORTERS FOUND DEATH GAS

By ANDY SOLTIS

November 21, 2001 -- Two of the journalists slain in Afghanistan this week had discovered what appeared to be highly deadly Sarin gas at one of Osama bin Laden's bases, it was reported yesterday.

U.S. government officials were told 300 ampules of the suspected biological weapon were found at the al Qaeda base in Jalalabad, Fox News said. It was not clear what became of the ampules.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it was reported that bin Laden did not have the capacity to make biological weapons - but was working with Russian mafia groups to obtain some, possibly including Sarin.

Sarin gained international notoriety when it was used in a terrorist attack that killed 12 on a Tokyo subway in 1995.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001

Is Sarin heavy enough to say, go down a hole in the ground in the mountains of Afghanistan? Hmmm...

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001