Conjecture Over Bin Laden Death

An informal chat between two diplomats at a social gathering in Pakistan appears to have been the trigger for a worldwide flurry of speculation over the weekend about the possible death of Osama bin Laden.

The regional French newspaper l'Est Republicain quoted a leaked document from France's intelligence service DGSE on Saturday saying that Saudi secret services were convinced the al-Qaida leader had died. The document, dated Thursday, had been sent to the French president, Jacques Chirac, and other top French officials, the newspaper said.

But according to Alexis Debat, a former French intelligence official, the report was based solely on a conversation between a French diplomat and a low-level Saudi diplomat at a social function in Islamabad. The French diplomat had felt obliged to pass on the details to headquarters in Paris. "There is no hard information the report is true," Mr Debat told ABC News.

The report suggested that Bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan late last month.

Time magazine posted an article on its website citing an unidentified Saudi source who claimed that Bin Laden was stricken with a water-borne disease and may be dead.

However, Mr Chirac told reporters that Bin Laden's death "has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever and so I have no comment to make" and that he was surprised a confidential note had been published.

The Saudi embassy in Washington also 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."

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." The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, told reporters: "No comment, no knowledge."

There have been previous reports of Bin Laden's death. In 2003, the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, said that intelligence services believed he was dead. The last videotaped message from Bin Laden was released towards the end of 2004 and several audio tapes attributed to him have been released this year.