WASHINGTON, Oct 19: New evidence was emerging on Friday of links between anthrax cases in the United States, as one daily reported that US investigators believe the attacks are related to the Sept 11 suicide hijackings.

A new case of skin anthrax was confirmed on Friday among workers at the New York Post tabloid, bringing to seven the total number of people who have contracted the disease in the United States since the scare began. Dozens more have been exposed.

Federal agents told The New York Times that while they lack concrete evidence or intelligence, they are investigating the possibility members of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network are behind the anthrax outbreak.

President George W. Bush said on Friday in Shanghai that he had no “knowledge of a direct link of the anthrax incidents to the enemy” in Afghanistan, “but I wouldn’t put it past them”.

In new signs that a single author was behind at least two of the attacks, anthrax-laced letters sent to US Senate majority leader Tom Daschle and NBC television news anchor Tom Brokaw showed strikingly similar language, according to newly released excerpts.

“09-11-01. This is next. Take penacilin (sic) now. Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is Great,” read the letter addressed to Brokaw. An assistant to Brokaw developed cutaneous anthrax after opening the letter, dated Sept 11.

The letter to Senator Tom Daschle read: “09-11-01. You can not stop us. We have this anthrax. You die now. Are you afraid? Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is Great.”

Thirty people on Capitol Hill, including 23 Daschle staffers, have tested positive for exposure to the dangerous bacteria, after the letter, postmarked Oct 8, was opened there on Monday.

Investigators were working to recreate the route traveled by a mail carrier in Trenton, New Jersey, who may have handled the letters. Both were sent from a 1.6-square kilometre area of West Trenton that was home to some hijackers and suspected members of al-Qaeda, ABC and The Times reported.

There was more evidence meanwhile that anthrax bacteria at the America Media Inc (AMI) building in Boca Raton, Florida also arrived by mail.

Florida health officials confirmed Friday that small quantities of anthrax spores had been found in two more Florida post offices, both of which handle mail to AMI. Two AMI employees there developed anthrax, one of whom died.

The substances were found in employee-only areas of post offices in Boca Raton and Lake Worth, said Tim O’Connor, a Palm Beach County spokesman. A small quantity of anthrax spores had already been found in another Boca Raton post office.

Investigators were also focusing on the ability of the hijackers to obtain highly refined anthrax. Mohammed Atta, the hijackers’ alleged leader, was interested in cropdusting aircraft that could be used to spread anthrax or other toxic substances, they pointed out.—AFP