updates with French ministry statement

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Saturday September 23, 2006

Paris- The French defence ministry on Saturday indirectly confirmed the existence of a document drawn up by France's DGSE intelligence service on the supposed death of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. In a press statement released in Paris, the ministry declared that it could not confirm a report in the regional daily L'Est Republicain that Saudi intelligence services had determined that bin Laden died of typhoid in August.

However, it also said that it was launching an investigation into the leak of the document on which the story was based, thereby authenticating the information in the report.

L'Est Republicain said it based its information on a DGSE document classified "defence secret," and reproduced what it claimed were verbatim extracts from it.

As cited in the story, the DGSE document reads in part, "According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi intelligence services are said to have acquired the information that Osama bin Laden is dead. The information gleaned by the Saudis indicates that the head of al-Qaeda was victim of a very strong attack of typhoid... in Pakistan on August 23, 2006."

The document goes on to say that bin Laden's geographical isolation rendered all medical assistance impossible, and that the illness had caused a partial paralysis of his legs.

It also states that Saudi officials were waiting for more information, notably about where bin Laden was buried, to make an official announcement about his death.

According to the newspaper, the DGSE found the Saudi report sufficiently credible to have relayed it last Thursday to France's highest officials, including President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur