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Chronology: All time shown below are approximate Eastern Daylight Times.

Friday, October 12, 2001

NOTE: Reports from news sources involving movements or operations of United States military personnel NOT confirmed by named U.S. government officials will be labeled as such.

Maps Detailing Allied Attacks (CNN)
Afghanistan Maps and Information (About Geography)
Most Wanted Terrorist List (FBI)

Also Today: One year ago today - October 12, 2000 - seventeen US sailors died and another 39 were injured when the Navy destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) was attacked by terrorist bombers in the Yemeni port of Aden. [See: Fighting to Save the Cole]

• A letter received by a Microsoft affiliate office in Nevada tested "presumptively positive" for anthrax, according to health officials. The letter had been returned to Microsoft from Malaysia. The letter was only one of at least four reported on Friday. [Details from CNN]
• NATO stated it would replace any US troops now serving in the Balkans if those troops were needed in Afghanistan.
• The House of Representatives easily passed its version of the anti-terrorism bill bill giving the government broad new law enforcement powers to go after suspected terrorists. The bill is similar to the one passed by the Senat on Friday. A conference committee must now work out differences.

7:00 pm - CNN reported that allied airstrikes on Taliban and Al Qaeda installations in and around Kabul, Afghanistan had resumed on what was early Saturday morning in Afghanistan. Taliban anti-aircraft fire was reported lighter than in previous raids. Bombing had been suspended on Friday in observance of the Muslim holy day.

6:30 pm - Vice President Cheney stated that a man arrested in August and now in custody may have been in training to take part in the September 11 hijacking of the jetliners used in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. [See: Cheney: Detainee May Have Been Extra Hijacker (Reuters)]

3:00 pm - Defense Secretary Rumsfeld stated that allied attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda locations in Afghanistan had been suspended on Friday in observance of the Muslim holy day. According to Rumsfeld, allied forces stood ready to undertake strikes against certain targets if they became available. No time for resumption of allied attacks was given.

12:30 pm - At a press conference, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani reported that a female employee of NBC in New York had tested positive for exposure to anthrax as early as Sept. 25, when she began receiving treatment. Giuliani stated that the CDC and FBI were investigating and testing NBC offices in Thirty Rockefeller Center where additional exposures were considered possible. All employees who may have been exposed are being tested and treated with antibiotics. A spokesman of the FBI stated that the case was being investigated as a criminal act, but no connection to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have been found. [See: NBC employee tests positive for skin anthrax (CNN)] [NBC Statement]

12:00 noon - CNN reported that an employee of NBC in New York City had tested positive for exposure to anthrax. NBC reported that the female employee had been taking antibiotics for the last ten days and had not yet contracted the actual anthrax virus and is expected to recover fully. Three floors of the NBC offices in Rockefeller Center had been sealed. Investigators stated that the form of anthrax involved was a more common and less lethal form of the bacteria than that involved in the Florida anthrax case. 

5:40 am - Violent anti-American protests flared in Karachi, Pakistan, as demonstrators set fire to an American-owned fast food restaurant. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has warned demonstrators that he will not tolerate violent protests. [See: Pakistan protests turn up pressure (CNN)]