Al-Qaida deputy says Bin Laden is still alive

Al-Qaida’s leader Osama bin Laden is alive and well and leading the holy war against the West, the terror group’s second-in-command said in a videotape broadcast on the internet today.

The tape by Ayman al-Zawahri, which was carried by the pan-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera, appeared to be an attempt to refute rumours that bin Laden was killed or wounded in the October earthquake in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 79,000 people.