PARIS - A leaked French intelligence document raises the possibility Osama
bin Laden died of typhoid, but President Jacques Chirac said Saturday the report
was "in no way whatsoever confirmed" and officials from Kabul to Washington
expressed skepticism about its accuracy.
This is an undated photo of Osama bin Laden,
in Afghanistan. President Jacques Chirac said Saturday Sept. 23, 2006 that
information contained in a leaked intelligence document raising the
possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last
month is 'in no way whatsoever confirmed.' [AP] |
There have been numerous reports over the years that bin Laden had been
killed or that he was dangerously ill, but the al-Qaida leader has periodically
released audiotapes appealing to followers and commenting on current news
events.
The regional French newspaper l'Est Republicain printed what it described as
a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an
uncorroborated report from a "usually reliable source" who said Saudi secret
services were convinced that bin Laden had died.
The document, dated Thursday, was sent to Chirac and other top French
officials, the newspaper said.
"This information is in no way whatsoever confirmed," Chirac said when asked
about the document. "I have no comment."
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry offered no details. "I've heard the reports,
but I have no information at all. I have no idea," spokesman Mansour al-Turki
told The Associated Press.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had "no comment and no
knowledge" about the report, while presidential spokesman Blair Jones said the
White House could not confirm the report's accuracy. But two U.S. intelligence
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
issue, said U.S. agencies had no information to suggest bin Laden was dead or
dying.
A senior official in Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said he was very
skeptical of the document, noting past false reports of the death of bin Laden.
He declined to let his name be used because he was not authorized to discuss the
issue publicly.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tasnim Aslam, called the information
"speculative," saying his government had no information on bin Laden.
Many people suspect bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders are hiding in the
Pakistani mountains along the border with Afghanistan.
Among previous reports, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said during the
U.S.-led offensive that toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime in late 2001 that
he was "reasonably sure" bin Laden had been killed by U.S. bombing raids on the
Tora Bora caves.
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