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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Staff quit U.S. embassy in Sweden due suspect letter

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The staff of the U.S. embassy in the Swedish capital have evacuated the building after a suspect letter was found and police are investigating, police and the embassy said on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said she had been told by police that a white powder had leaked out in the building, but neither she nor the police had further details.

Spokesman Jeff Anderson said essential staff had left the building while police investigated.

"We are looking into a possible security incident," he added. About 150 people were employed at the embassy, but not all were working at the time of the incident, he added.

Stockholm police said in a statement on its website that a letter with unknown content had come to the embassy.

Police and fire service staff had gone into the embassy to take charge of the letter, a police spokesman said.

"Rescue service and police personnel are on the spot and are cooperating with embassy staff," the statement added.

(Reporting by Patrick Lannin. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

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