Laden 'not dead' : French Foreign Minister

PARIS: French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Sunday that Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was still alive, despite a newspaper report citing French intelligence that he might have died.

"To my knowledge, Osama bin Laden is not dead. It is quite simple," he told French television's Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-CLI programme. "It's the truth," he said.

He was reacting to a French media report on Saturday that bin Laden might have died of typhoid in a hideout in  Pakistan -- a claim that was greeted with scepticism around the world.

French President Jacques Chirac had said earlier that the newspaper report, which quoted a French intelligence memo, was "in no way confirmed."

He added that he was "surprised" that the newspaper l'Est Republicain had published an excerpt from a French secret service note relaying information from Saudi Arabia's intelligence service.