COMPIEGNE, France (AFP) - France, Pakistan and the United States have said a report Osama bin Laden has died of typhoid was unconfirmed, while Paris was probing how the intelligence brief it was based on came to be leaked.
French President Jacques Chirac stressed to journalists that "this information is in no way confirmed."
He added that he was "surprised" that the French newspaper l'Est Republicain had published an excerpt from a French secret service note relaying information from Saudi Arabia's intelligence service.
"I am a little surprised that a confidential DGSE (French foreign intelligence service) note should be published," Chirac told a media conference, after a summit in this town north of Paris with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
No need for dancing in the street yet -- hell, I'm not even fully convinced Ken Lay's dead...
Tags: news politics international terrorism crime France Osama bin Laden
