Saudis believe bin Laden is dead

Paris, September 23
A French newspaper today published what it said was a report by the country's intelligence services that said Saudi Arabia believes Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan this month.

France's Defence Ministry issued a statement saying the newspaper report "cannot be confirmed" and that Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had ordered an investigation "to determine the source of this leak, which is a crime punishable by law." France's foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, also refused to confirm the report, and no immediate official reaction was forthcoming from Saudi officials.

But European and Pakistani officials tracking bin Laden's whereabouts told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the report could not be seen as reliable.

Often rumoured to be dead in the past -- only to appear later in audio or video recordings -- the leader of the Al-Qaida terror network was believed to have taken refuge on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Previous reported rumours have said that he suffered from a kidney disorder and was in poor health.

The French regional newspaper l'Est Republicain published what it said was a DGSE report dated September 21.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," the DGSE report quoted by the newspaper said.

It said that "information gathered by the Saudis" indicates that bin Laden "might have succumbed to a very serious case of typhoid fever resulting in partial paralysis of his lower limbs on August 23, 2006.