[SunkenCiv]

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]

[BIGLOOK]

Biological weapons? Well Yersina pestis certainly is biological but an outbreak in winter among an isoloated tightly packed community doesn't suggest a weaponized biological right off the bat...rat...whatever.

Having spent more than a couple years in SE Asia, plague shots were required....and so were booster shots every six months. It's highly doubtful that Al Qa'eda camps have the same kind of vaccination program for their personnel.

Besides....the only biological weapons research that I'd heard of lately of serious concern was that of the Soviets using small pox crossed with mouse pox to create a more lethal strain, if that's possible.

More worrisome would be the replication and manufacture of the 1918 influenza virus.

Plague, Ebola and others kill the host too quickly to travel far. Influenza and variola would produce a contagious host with a greater time period allowing the spread of the agent and be virtually undetectable in it's earliest stage.

[colorado tanker]

Thanks for the update. Fascinating.

Hard to believe they were working on bioweapons in some camp hidden in the woods. I doubt it was a very sophisticated or secure lab.