Suspicious parcel found at Illinois Air Force base

August 31: Emergency personnel are seen at Scott Air Force Base in Mascoutah, Illinois, where three people were hospitalized with rashes after a suspicious package arrived at the base's mail center. The package prompted precautionary evacuations of the base's education center, bowling alley and other services near the mail center. (AP/KMOV-TV)

MASCOUTAH, Ill. – The commander of a southwestern Illinois Air Force base believes a suspicious package found in a mail center has no connection to the approaching 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Col. Michael Hornitschek (HORN'-uh-chek) says he believes the package found Wednesday that sent three workers at Scott Air Force Base to the hospital was an isolated incident. It comes less than two weeks before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Thirteen other people on the base just east of St. Louis were decontaminated as a precaution. The origin of the illness remains unclear, but specialists have pinpointed the bin where the package was.

The base's security level remained unchanged throughout the day, but the immediate area of the mail center was evacuated.