Sep 23, 2006, 4.18 pm
French paper says Osama died in Pakistan
PARIS - A French regional newspaper has quoted a French secret
service report as saying that Saudi Arabia is convinced that
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last
month.
L'Est Republicain printed what it said was a copy of the report
dated Sept 21 and said it was shown to President Jacques Chirac,
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and France's interior and
defence ministers on the same day.
'According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now
convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead,' the document said.
'The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of
Al-Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on Aug 23, 2006, of
a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of
his internal organs.'
The report, which was stamped with a 'confidential defence' label
and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia
first heard the information on Sept 4 and that it was waiting for
more details before making an official announcement.
Officials contacted in Mr Chirac's and Mr Villepin's offices had no
immediate comment.
A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry said: 'We have no
information about Osama's death.'
Saudi-born Osama was based in Afghanistan until the Taliban
government there was overthrown by US-backed forces in late 2001.
Since then, US and Pakistani officials have regularly said they
believe he is hiding somewhere on the rugged border between
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The last videotaped message released by Osama was in late 2004, but
there have been several low quality audio tapes released this year.
-- REUTERS
UPDATE
Report: Bin Laden dead in Pakistan
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday 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."
Chirac said he was "a bit surprised" at the leak and has asked
Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to investigate how a document
from a French foreign intelligence service was published in the
French press.
The regional newspaper l'Est Republicain on Saturday 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" saying that Saudi secret services are
convinced the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.
The DGSE spy agency, or Direction Generale de la Securite
Exterieure, indicated that its information came from a single
source.
