Bin Laden 'rumoured to be dead'
Saturday, 23 Sep 2006 12:00
Osama Bin Laden is the world's most wanted terrorist
Al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden is rumoured to have died of a typhoid infection, according to a French newspaper.
The unsubstantiated report from the L'Est Republicain newspaper quotes a document which it claims has been classified by the DGSE, the French intelligence service, and circulated to France's top leaders including president Jacques Chirac and prime minister Dominque de Villepin.
The report from the DGSE says that Saudi Arabian intelligence is "convinced" that Bin Laden perished in Pakistan earlier this year.
"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al-Qaida was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23rd 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs," the document claims.
President Chirac has ordered an inquiry into the leaked document but has refused to comment on its contents.
The newspaper said another part of the document claimed that the Saudis were waiting for confirmation of the reports before making them public.
Bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, has been pursued by the US since masterminding the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, whose fifth anniversary passed by earlier this month.
The failure of coalition forces to catch him has proved a continual source of embarrassment for the US military since 9/11. It is believed the former construction magnate has been hiding in the rugged mountainous terrain on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border since the 2001 attacks.
There have been numerous previous reports of Bin Laden's death, all proved untrue by audio or video broadcasts from the al-Qaida leader issued in their wake. No video broadcast of Bin Laden has been seen for over 12 months.