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Bin Laden: Dead or alive?
24/09/2006 13:00 - (SA)
Dubai - Killed by typhoid or alive and plotting more bloodletting - the fate of Osama bin Laden, the Western world's most wanted terror mastermind but a pied piper for a generation of radicalised Muslim youth, is again surrounded by a swirl of speculation.
The al-Qaeda leader's supposed death, reported by a French regional newspaper, has been greeted with scepticism by politicians, counter-terrorism experts and the Saudis, the supposed source of the report.
Rumours of the demise of Bin Laden have surfaced in the past but the 1.92m Saudi-born millionaire has come back to haunt his enemies with sporadic threats, broadcast mainly through the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television from unknown locations.
French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain said the Saudi intelligence service had concluded that Bin Laden had succumbed to typhoid fever while hiding in Pakistan in late August.
But the Saudi embassy in Washington issued a statement saying it had "no evidence to support" the claim and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had "no knowledge" of Bin Laden's demise.
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