Location of Osama bin Laden
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The current location of Osama bin Laden is not definitively known, but he is widely believed to be somewhere near the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. A large number of unverified claims about his status and location have been made, including rumors of his death in 2001 and 2006, and claims of his visits to various countries.
[edit] "Sightings"
After the September 11 attacks, the United States demanded that the Taliban authorities deliver bin Laden to face charges of terrorism. The Taliban refused to surrender bin Laden without proof or evidence of his involvement in the September 11 attacks and made a counter-offer to try bin Laden in an Islamic court or extradite him to a third-party country. Both of those offers were rejected by the U.S. government. The resulting United States invasion of Afghanistan resulted in the death or arrest of many members of both Al Qaeda and the ruling Taliban, but bin Laden was not found.
Rumors surfaced that bin Laden was killed or fatally injured during U.S. bombardments, most notably near Tora Bora, or that he died of natural causes. According to Gary Berntsen, in his 2005 book, Jawbreaker, a number of al-Qaeda detainees later confirmed that bin Laden had escaped Tora Bora into Pakistan via an eastern route through snow covered mountains in the area of Parachinar, Pakistan. The media reported that bin Laden suffered from a kidney disorder requiring him to have access to advanced medical facilities, possibly kidney dialysis. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a physician and FBI Most Wanted Terrorist, is thought to have provided medical care to bin Laden.
A Spanish court indicted bin Laden and 34 others on charges related to terrorism on September 17, 2003.[1]
In July 2005 Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss said that he had an "excellent idea" of where bin Laden was located, though he did not elaborate.[2]
By September 23, 2005, bin Laden was believed to be on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. According to the Pakistani press, he had kept a low profile, with as few as ten men guarding him. In October, U.S. authorities said they had no evidence of whether Bin Laden was hurt or killed as a result of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the disputed area of Kashmir, in northeastern Pakistan [1].
On November 25, 2005, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said that he was informed that Bin Laden may have died in the October earthquake in Pakistan.[2].
In early December 2005, in a videotaped message posted on an Islamist website, the deputy leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, was reported as saying that the group's leader was alive and still leading their "holy war against the West" [3].
On January 9, 2006, Michael Ledeen, a scholar with close ties to the Bush administration, wrote that, "....according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time" [4].
On May 24, 2006, ABC News reported on rumors that Bin Laden was sighted in the Kumrat Valley in the Kohistan District of Pakistan [5].
On Sep 21, 2006, L'Est Républicain reported that unnamed Saudi police sources believe Osama bin Laden died a few days after contracting Typhoid Fever in Pakistan on August 23 2006. [6]
