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Hitmen who poisoned five people in Wiltshire with military-grade Novichok may be identified within months, security minister Ben Wallace said today.

Experts said the net is closing on the assassination squad who targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4 and also infected Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey who went to their home.

Two more victims, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley who suddenly fell ill on Saturday, are believed to have been accidentally poisoned, possibly after picking up a syringe or other object contaminated with the deadly nerve agent used in the first attack.

Around 100 counter-terrorism officers are working on the case as police race to find the source of the Novichok which poisoned the couple, who fell ill at Mr Rowley’s home in Amesbury, around nine miles from Salisbury.

As health chiefs warned residents in the Salisbury area to take precautions against the risk of further infections Mr Wallace urged Russia to help police investigations into both incidents.

The security minister told BBC radio: “I’m sure that no matter how long this takes, because we have world-leading expertise in this country, that we will eventually find out who did it and what happened. That may take years, that may take months.”

Chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon added: “I understand that the security services and the police are pretty convinced that they are going to find and get a resolution to who attacked [the Skripals]. The Russians could get on the front foot and help us out here.”

The Kremlin has strongly denied any Russian involvement in the attack.

Health chiefs insisted this morning that the latest two victims were not believed to have visited the sites which have undergone a multi-million pound “clean-up” operation after the original attack.

However, this immediately raised the question that not all infected sites had been identified.

Baroness Scott, leader of Wiltshire council, stressed: “The sooner we can get to the bottom of this, the better.”

Home Secretary Sajid Javid was chairing a meeting of Whitehall’s emergency COBRA committee on the incident.

Mr Rowley, 45, and Ms Sturgess, 44, are in a critical condition in Salisbury district hospital where the Skripals and DS Bailey were also treated.

“The working assumption would be that these are victims of either the consequence of the previous attack, or something else, but not that they were directly targeted,” added Mr Wallace.

The incident, though, means that a boycott on ministers going to Russia for the World Cup will now almost certainly not been lifted even if England progress to the final.

Amid renewed fear in Wiltshire over the risk of more Novichok infections, Mr Wallace added: “In the whole area of national security we can’t give 100% guarantees, and we try to minimalise the risk, and I know the people of Salisbury will be anxious.

“We are giving a low risk, but take some precautions.”

He rejected claims that people could not be seriously poisoned by just touching Novichok and that they would only fall into a life-threatening condition if they ingested it.

The Skripals are believed to have been infected by the nerve agent being smeared on the door handle of Sergei’s home.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 14 show all Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1/14 Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty 2/14 Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA 3/14 Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA 4/14 ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images 5/14 Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA 6/14 Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA 7/14 Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA 8/14 Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS 9/14 Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA 10/14 Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA 11/14 Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news 12/14 Snap Fitness 24/7 13/14 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA 14/14 Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

Traces of it in the environment are likely to have been washed away, according to experts, but any significant amount of residue could still be lethal.

“The sites that were the subject of the clean-up after Skripal are not associated with this incident,” insisted Professor Paul Cosford, medical director of Public Health England.

“So there should not be any concern that the clean-up after the previous incident has not worked here.”

Health chiefs are advising local people who had been in newly-cordoned off areas in Salisbury and Amesbury to wash their clothes and down personal items, shoes and bags, with cleansing or baby wipes.

Paramedics were called on Saturday to Mr Rowley’s home in Amesbury after Ms Sturgess collapsed, and were sent back later after Mr Rowley suddenly also fell ill.

Police initially thought the couple may have been the victims of contaminated heroin or crack cocaine.

But doctors identified similar symptoms to Novichok poisoning and experts at the defence research facility at Porton Down, Wiltshire, confirmed it was the nerve agent.

Ms Sturgess is believed to have lived close to the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury which the Skripals visited on the day they collapsed in the city centre.

Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury, which Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess are thought to have visited, and the property at Muggleton Road, Amesbury, where they were found have been cordoned off, as have a property at John Baker House, Salisbury, Boots the Chemist in Stonehenge Walk, Amesbury, and Amesbury Baptist Centre.

Driver Daniel Burr, 42, who lives directly behind the house where the couple were found said: “We have started taking precautions we’re not touching anything you find lying about - even bannisters.

“If you don’t need to touch anything don’t touch it.”

Novichok was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Government is understood to be bracing for a Russian “misinformation campaign” using false claims that the Wiltshire Novichok poisonings were a British attempt to undermine the World Cup hosts.

Russia is expected to launch “significant” efforts to try to “confuse the public” after the latest incident, according to a senior Government source.

However the source said there was “no reason” for any increased concern for the safety of England fans.