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Are terrorists creating 'dirty bomb' with Ebola virus?

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ANI Melbourne
Last Updated : Aug 04 2014 | 12:35 PM IST

Flesh-eating Ebola virus could be used by terrorists to create a "dirty bomb" that might be used to explode cities in UK, according to reports.

Dr Peter Walsh, a biological anthropologist from Cambridge University told the Sun that serious risk was that a group manages to attach the virus as a powder, then exploded it in a bomb in a highly populated public area, News.com.au reported.

Dr Walsh said that it was a threat that was taken very seriously.

While all samples of the Ebola virus in a handful of advanced research facilities around the were tightly guarded, it would be possible that terrorist groups could get samples of infected material direct from West Africa which is the home of the feared Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.

More than 800 people have died in West Africa during the current outbreak since the virus emerged in 1976 it has killed two thirds of those infected.

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First Published: Aug 04 2014 | 12:18 PM IST

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