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.

One theory surrounding the mysterious French leak is that it was designed to flush the al-Qaida leader into the open, prompting him to release a new tape that might give a clue to his whereabouts and state of health.

Meanwhile in Washington, the Saudi Embassy issued a statement saying: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama bin Laden is dead. Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified.”

French President Jacques Chirac told reporters bin Laden’s death “has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever and so I have no comment to make“.