Saudi govt disassociates itself from French report on bin Laden
By Mark Chris,WNS Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON - The Saudi government has pulled the rug from under a French newspaper report about the alleged death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, saying in a statement that it "has no evidence to support" the contention. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama bin Laden is dead," the Saudi Embassy here said in a statement. "Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified."
Earlier Saturday, a French regional newspaper, L'Est Republicain, published a report based on a French foreign intelligence service document, which alleged that Saudi intelligence service had concluded the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States had succumbed to typhoid fever -- sometime between August 23 and September 4 -- while hiding in Pakistan. French President Jacques Chirac as well as US, Pakistani and Afghan officials sought to distance themselves from the account, saying that it could not be confirmed. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when asked before meeting in New York with Sri Lanka's foreign minister whether she gave the report any credibility, said only: "No comment, and no knowledge."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the report would be welcome if it turns out to be true. "It would be a good news, but it's just speculation," Karzai told Radio-Canada television during a visit in Montreal. "Let's see if it's true or not true." Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, told AFP in Islamabad: "No, we do not have any such information with us." Security officials hunting Al-Qaeda in Pakistan rejected the report. "There is an excellent cooperation between Pakistani and Saudi intelligence services and no such information has been shared," a senior security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said it was "inconceivable that an event of this nature would remain unnoticed in Pakistan where we are constantly on the Al-Qaeda hunt."European officials tracking bin Laden's whereabouts told AFP, also on condition of anonymity, that the report could not be seen as reliable.
posted by wnsworld @ 4:25 AM
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