Germany probes letter with suspicious powder

Berlin, May 13 (IANS) German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has been investigating a letter with suspicious powder, which was addressed to Germany's former vhancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other politicians, Xinhua quoted German newspaper Bild as saying Tuesday.

The report said that the letter addressed to Germany's former chancellor contains a loose brownish substance and is currently under forensic examination.

The letter with Arabic script provides clues about a Salafist group, according to German security circles.

Meanwhile, Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth, Left Party parliamentarians, Katja Kipping and Gesine Loetzsch, as well as the wife of German Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, also got letters with suspicious content in the past few days.

However, in the first forensic investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation Berlin, the substance found in letters sent to Kipping and Loetzsch turned out to be harmless.

Russian consulates general, including in Hamburg and Bonn, also received such envelopes, the report said.