Norway killer thought of using Anthrax

But experts in biological weapons said the manifesto showed no evidence that Anders Behring Breivik had actually obtained the lethal germ or could wield it as a weapon.

He obviously doesnt have any specialised knowledge, Matthew S Meselson,a Harvard biologist and expert on biological weapons,said in an interview. Weapons experts note that many extremists including from al-Qaeda have expressed interest over the years in using anthrax as an aerosol weapon that,if inhaled,could cause fever,vomiting,chills,coma and death.

The 1,500-page manifesto of Breivik discusses how to obtain,cultivate and use anthrax and refer to it as one of the most effective weapons. The use of anthrax has an excellent shock effect, and is likely to result in massive media coverage, Breivik wrote. He speculated that a large-scale attack could kill as many as 2,00,000 people, but said that our objective is to execute surgically precise attacks on particular people and buildings.

In the manifesto a person presumably Breivik is seen covered in a protective suit equipped with a respirator,holding a vial in one hand and,in the other,what seems to be a syringe with the persons thumb pressing the plunger. The manifesto uses the word anthrax more than 50 times,and spores about 20 times. The manifesto said,anthrax spores can be cultivated with minimal special equipment and less than a first-year collegiate microbiological education. But in practice,the document notes,the procedure is difficult and dangerous.