Osama bin Laden Reported Dead

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has been reported dead, although intelligence officials in several large countries say they can't confirm the report.

The original report said that bin Laden died of typhoid. He had been known to be suffering from kidney ailments and requiring dialysis treatments. The secret report was said to have come from Saudi Arabian intelligence sources and then leaked in France. Officials of both of those countries have said that they can in no way corroborate the report. U.S. and British intelligence officials echoed that reluctance to embrace the report.

If bin Laden is indeed dead, it would be the end of a yearslong hunt for the terrorist leader, who had found like-minded friends in Afghanistan but had been forced to flee to what many think was a secret location on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He hasn't been seen on videotape since 2004. His last audio broadcasts were earlier this year.