Leaked French Intelligence Report Suggests bin Laden Is Dead
Posted September 23, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The French newspaper l’Est Republicain published a purported copy of a confidential French intelligence document Saturday that cites an uncorroborated report from the Saudi secret service that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is dead.
“According to a reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead,” the intelligence report said.
French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday the information contained in the leaked dossier is “in no way whatsoever confirmed.”
According to the French news report, the intelligence document dated Sept. 21 was sent to Chirac and other top French officials.
In the United States, CIA officials couldn’t confirm the DGSE (La Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure) report and IntelCenter, the Washington-based agency that monitors terrorism communications, said it wasn’t aware of any simliar reports on the Internet.
“We’ve seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden,” IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke said.
“[al-Qaida] would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it.”
IntelCenter can confirm bin Laden was alive on June 29, when he appeared in a video eulogizing al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. air strike that month.
Meanwhile, the French defence ministry is investigating the leak, which apparently came from a single source.
There have been reports of bin Laden’s failing health and the source in the intelligence report claims the terror leader succumbed to typhoid on Aug. 23 and he couldn’t get medical help because of his geographic isolation.
Officials with Pakistan’s top spy agency say they haven’t received information to confirm bin Laden’s location or that he might be dead. An anonymous Pakistani senior intelligence official said he believes the report is false.
