Islamists dismissed recent reports on the death of Osama bin Laden âaround four months agoâ, with the Pakistani newspaper âAwsafâ reporting al Qaedaâs leader had died outside Qandahar in June 2005. Quoting âinformedâ sources, the article alleged that bin Laden was hiding with a number of his followers in Bamiyan province when his health deteriorated and he was moved to Qandahar where he died and was buried in the âal Shahadahâ tomb outside the city. Repeated appearance by al Qaedaâs second in command Ayman al Zawahiri, on his own, in the last few months, added weight to the rumors, especially as bin Laden has not appeared in any video for over a year.
Muntasser al Zayat, a lawyer defending Islamist extremists in Egypt, told Asharq al Awsat, in a telephone conversation, that security precautions precluded bin Laden from communicating with the media, as al Zawahiri has in the past, adding that âsecurity concerns require the men not to be in the same locationâ. Less stringent security measures meant al Zawahiri was able to record and smuggle videotaped messages while fears for his life precluded bin Laden from appearing in public, especially as he might have had to change his physical appearance to avoid capture, al Zayat indicated. âNo one can predict where bin Laden and al Zawahiri are currently living. I believe they are in the least expected placeâ, he said.
For his part, Hani al Sibai, head of al Maqrizi Center in London, indicated that, in case bin Laden dies, al Qaeda would announce a new leadership was in place and publicly back his successor as it had done when âthe leaders of Afghan Arab fighters in the Caucusâ Mohammad Atef, also known as Abu Hafs, died in Qandahar in 2001. Al Sibai indicated that al Zawahiri acknowledged the arrests of Abu Faraj al Libbi and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al Shibah so that, âif the reports on the death of bin Laden were true, al Qaeda would publicly announce his death.â
âIn my opinion, the disappearance of bin Laden after his last videotaped message in December 2004 is aimed at encouraging the US military to stop pursuing himâ, he added.