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Iraq's "Mrs. Anthrax" Taken Into U.S. Custody

Monday, May 5, 2003
(1:52 PM)
By Will Dunham
Reuters Writer

She is a leading Iraqi microbial genetic engineer, and U.S. officials believe she was instrumental in rebuilding aspects of Iraq's biological warfare production capability during the mid-1990s. At that time, she served as head of biological laboratories at Iraq's military industrialization organization.

U.S. forces have taken into custody another of the most-wanted Iraqi fugitives, Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, knowledgeable about weapons programs under toppled President Saddam Hussein's government, a defense official said on May 5, 2003. The official said Ammash was a scientist involved in Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program.
Image Credit: Reuters

location -- Reuters
U.S. forces have taken into custody a U.S.-educated microbiologist dubbed "Mrs. Anthrax" who was active in germ warfare development under President Saddam Hussein, defense officials said on Monday.

Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, the only woman included in the U.S. military's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi fugitives, was taken into custody in Baghdad on Sunday by U.S. troops, said the defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ammash was designated as No. 53 on the list and was the five of hearts in the U.S. military's deck of cards of wanted Iraqis. Eighteen of the 55 have been taken into custody, with another three dead, according to the Pentagon.

A U.S. official said Ammash may have potentially useful information.

"She has intimate knowledge of the workings of Iraq's BW (biological warfare) program and the nature and the extent of that program, as well (to) be in a position to know possible locations of where material or production facilities might be located," the official said.

* AMMASH POSSESSED POLITICAL POWER
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