FRESH claims that Osama bin Laden has died stirred suspicion and some collective head-scratching yesterday from governments across the world.

A leaked French intelligence document, dated September 21, reportedly stated: “According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead.

“The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al-Qaeda fell victim, while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, to a very serious case of typhoid that led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs.”

Time magazine yesterday quoted Saudi sources as saying that bin Laden had fallen ill and was “likely dead”.

But Saudi Arabian officials in Washington said that they had no evidence that he had died, adding: “Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified.”

Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, the Pakistani Home Minister, similarly sought to dismiss the report as “totally baseless”. Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied claims that bin Laden is hiding in their country.

The US Government, as well as those of France and Britain, cast doubt on the report, which disclosed a document from French intelligence saying that the Saudi secret services were convinced that bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan during late August.

Jacques Chirac, the French President, did appear to confirm that the report was based on a genuine document. He ordered a leak inquiry over how it came to be disclosed by L’Est Republicain, a regional daily newspaper that has specialised in revealing stories of this kind.

However, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French Foreign Minister, said last night: “To my knowledge, Osama bin Laden is not dead. It is quite simple.”

Bin Laden’s most recent audiotapes were issued in July, but the al-Qaeda leader — who is believed to suffer from kidney trouble — has not recorded any new video messages since the eve of the US presidential election in late 2004.

This long absence from view, which contrasts with the regular, high-quality video broadcasts from Ayman al-Zawahri, his deputy, has heightened speculation about his health.

Security experts pointed out that bin Laden had previously started rumours of his demise whenever the hunt for him began to close in. “We’ve heard these things before and have no reason to think this is any different,” a US intelligence official said.

The speculation overshadowed what is potentially a more significant leak, with US intelligence chiefs quoted yesterday as saying that the war in Iraq has “made the overall terrorism problem worse”. The disclosure of the classified National Intelligence Estimate would appear to contradict the White House’s own repeated claims that the War on Terror has made the US safer than it was before 9/11.

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal — and probably the most authoritative — appraisal of global terrorism by US intelligence agencies since the attacks five years ago. It specifically cites the Iraq war as a reason why jihad ideology has spread across the world.

The leak is likely to be seized upon by Democrats who are fighting to dismiss claims in the mid-term Congressional election campaign that they would leave America more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

Bill Clinton angrily defended his administration’s counter-terrorism record during a Fox News interview yesterday.

Asked why he had not done more to put al-Qaeda and bin Laden “out of business”, the former President launched into a finger-jabbing riposte. “I got closer to killing him than anybody’s gotten since,” he said.

Mr Clinton said that he had authorised the CIA to kill bin Laden. By contrast, the Bush Administration “had no meetings on bin Laden for nine months”. “At least I tried,” Mr Clinton said. “That’s the difference [between] me and some, including all of the rightwingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try.”

Tale of the tapes

July 1, 2006 audiotape said al-Qaeda’s priority was “the expulsion of the crusader armies”

April 23, 2006 audiotape criticises “Zionist crusader war on Islam”

January 19, 2006 audiotape offered truce “to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan”

November 1, 2004 audiotape said: “We fight because we are free men who don’t sleep under oppression”

October 29, 2004 video aired four days before US election: “The reasons are still there to repeat what happened”

April 15, 2004 audiotape said: “Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood”

November 14, 2002 audiotape said: “We warned Australia not to join in the war in Afghanistan. It woke up to the explosions in Bali”

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