No evidence of Osama's death: Saudi Arabia
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Sept 25, IRNA
Pakistan-Osama
The Saudi government has distanced itself from reports about Osama bin Laden's death on or about August 23 somewhere in Pakistan. The news was carried by the French newspaper L'Est Republicain citing Saudi intelligence sources.
According to a Saudi statement published in Pakistan's newspapers, the information is speculative and cannot be
independently verified.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama bin Laden is dead.
Information that has been reported is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified, the statement added.
The French newspaper had claimed in its Saturday issue that Bin Laden died of typhoid.
The paper quoted a French secret service report as saying that Saudi Arabia was convinced that Bin Laden died last month.
France, the United States and Britain have said they are unable to confirm the report, according to a foreign news agency.
Time magazine posted an article on its website citing an unidentified Saudi source as saying Bin Laden was stricken with a water-borne disease and might already be dead.
French President Jacques Chirac told reporters that Bin Laden's death has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever and, therefore, he could not comment on it. He also expressed surprise at how a confidential report was leaked out to the press.
France has launched a probe into the leak.
"No comment, no knowledge," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when asked about the French article by reporters in New York.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, asked in a BBC interview if he could shed light on the report, said: "No, I can't. I haven't heard anything that indicates that might be the case."
A US intelligence source said Washington had no evidence the report was any more credible than earlier rumors of his death.
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