Bin Laden: Dead or alive?
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s president said Monday his intelligence agencies believe Osama bin Laden may be dead, but he added there is no proof. Other Pakistani officials and a U.S. counterterrorism official said they thought the al-Qaida chief is alive.
U.S. officials said bin Laden is most likely hiding in the mountains along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, in particular the lawless tribal regions.
Reports of bin Laden’s death or of near-captures have punctuated his years on the run since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, only to be seemingly debunked by periodic audio and video recordings.
In an interview Monday with international media outlets, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said American officials had told him they do not know where bin Laden is.
Zardari added that his country’s intelligence agencies “obviously feel that he does not exist anymore,” but he didn’t explain how or when they reached that conclusion and quickly qualified his comment by saying bin Laden “may be dead.”
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