Bin Laden death not confirmed

2006-09-23 14:56

Washington - US intelligence agencies "can't confirm" a French newspaper report that al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden died in August in his hideout in Pakistan, a US official said on Saturday.

"I can't confirm that account," said the government official, who spoke to AFP on the condition that neither his name nor his affiliation would be revealed.

The French newspaper l'Est Republicain reported earlier on Saturday that Saudi intelligence had concluded that bin Laden might have succumbed to typhoid fever - at some point between August 23 and September 4 - while hiding in Pakistan.

French President Jacques Chirac said earlier that the newspaper report was "in no way confirmed."

He added that he was "surprised" that the French newspaper l'Est Republicain had published an excerpt from a French secret service note relaying information from Saudi Arabia's intelligence service.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Pakistan has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate the report.

"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry also said: "We have no information about Osama's death."

- AFP