Saudi Arabia refutes article allegation that bin Laden has died

SAUDI ARABIA said yesterday it had no evidence that Osama bin Laden had died, shedding further doubt on a secret document leaked in France that said Saudi secret services believed he had died last month.

France, the United States and Britain have said they were unable to confirm the report in French regional daily L’Est Republicain which quoted France’s DGSE foreign intelligence service as saying the Saudi secret services were convinced the al-Qaida leader had died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August.

Time magazine separately posted an article on its website citing an unidentified Saudi source, who claimed bin Laden was stricken with a water-borne disease and may already be dead.