Anthrax fears fade, nuclear fears loom

As fears of widespread anthrax deaths faded this week fears of an imminent nuclear terrorist attack mounted, fed by a chilling warning from US President George W. Bush and reports of missing uranium.

But experts were divided over just how possible it would be for a radical like Osama bin Laden to get his hands on nuclear weapons and to use them.

"They're seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Given the means, our enemies would be a threat to every nation and eventually, to civilisation itself," Bush said Tuesday.

American experts warned that since the break-up of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War export controls have become increasingly lax and nuclear scientists have become free to sell their expertise.

And Pakistan's arms race with India has left a potentially deadly nuclear arsenal in the hands of a military regime some of whose personnel have close links to bin Laden's Taliban allies.

"In the extreme case, should extremists take over the Pakistani government -- control over Pakistan's nuclear explosive materials and weapons could be lots irrestrevably," warns David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).

This doomsday scenario -- a nuclear armed rogue state -- has long worried US military planners and generated calls for the controversial missile defence shield that Bush has vowed to build.

Perhaps even more worrying is the idea, raised in numerous press reports, that Pakistani nuclear weapons could be handed to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network of Islamic radicals for future bomb attacks on US cities or interests abroad.

Pakistani analysts dismiss this scenario.

"It is accurate to say that there are a number of individuals within the establishment, both civilian and military, who are sympathetic to the Taliban, said defence expert Mohammad Afzal Niazi.

"But whether this could ever translate into the sort of action being proposed in these doomsday scenarios is at best extremely doubtful.

"It is one one to protest that there in not enough evidence to bomb bin Laden, but quite another to hand over the nuclear keys to al-Qaeda."

Other analysts argue that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf as purged radical generals from the army and reinforced his grip on power.

But even if al-Qaeda can not get access to a complete nuclear bomb, two other threats remain.

Terrorists could attack a nuclear installation such as a power station a create an explosion that would release radioactive contamination -- a threat that has seen France, for one, deploy troops and anti-aircraft missiles around its nuclear sites.

Otherwise, the gangs could create a so-called "dirty bomb" in which conventional explosives are used along with nuclear materials to spread a cloud of dangerous radioactive debris.

Fears that criminals or political extremists could get their hands on nuclear material were increased further on Thursday by a report that Italian police were attempting to trace seven missing bars of enriched uranium.