Okay, looks like there’s something to your suspicions (those who had ‘em, I’m pinging everyone who replied to me):
Thanks Perdogg (#8) and neverdem (#32) for the pings:
Al Qaeda bungles arms experiment - Biological or chemical weapons
washingtontimes.com | January 19, 2009 | Eli Lake
Posted on 01/19/2009 9:34:25 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2167875/posts
[snip] The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives... “We don’t know if this is biological or chemical,” the official said. The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century. But the intelligence official dismissed that claim. [end]