BIN LADEN DEAD?For the complete report in Reuters.com click on this link
France to probe bin Laden death report leak
France's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it could not confirm a newspaper report quoting French secret services as saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died but would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret papers.The Defense Ministry issued the statement after the French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain said Saudi Arabia was convinced bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan last month. "The information published this morning in the L'Est Republicain newspaper relating to the supposed death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," the Defense Ministry said.The French newspaper printed what it said was a copy of the report dated September 21 and said it was passed on to President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin 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 August 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 defense" label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on September 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement. The U.S. intelligence official, who declined to be named, said bin Laden had long been rumored to be suffering from kidney ailments and is reported to have received dialysis.
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