Did they kill Bin Laden or not?

Sheikh Osama has been killed, but the Jihad will last until Judgement Day

It is quite natural that interest in Osama bin Laden has growing in connection with the September 11 anniversary. Nothing is actually known about the Al-Qaeda leader’s whereabouts. From time to time, there are pieces of news that claim that Bin Laden is dead. However, various special services reject such news.

Out of the blue, Al-Qaeda spokesmen released a statement in which they said that Osama bin Laden was dead. They claimed that bin Laden died last year.

The Al-Bayan newspaper of the United Arab Emirates wrote on September 13 that the An-Nida site, which is run by Bin Laden’s followers, published information according to which Bin Laden died on December 9 last year. He allegedly died when the American Air Force struck the Tora Bora caves. The information on the site says that an American missile hit the trench in which Bin Laden was hiding. Then it was said “Yes, Sheikh Osama has been killed, but the Jihad will last until Judgement Day.”

However, the information about Osama’s death was rejected the next day. The disclaimer appeared on another terrorist site, Jihad Online. RIA Novosti reported that the site published its apologies in connection with the publication of the message, which caused confusion and weeping. The site said that it was not Osama bin Laden who was killed, but Osama al-Adani. It was also added that Bin Laden left the mentioned trench prior to Al-Adani’s death.

There can be several variants for such a discrepancy. First of all, not all of Bin Laden’s followers know if their idle is alive or not. There is nothing surprising about that, as the less people know about it, the easier it is for him to hide.

There is another variant as well. There may be a power struggle within the leadership of Al-Qaeda. This fight is surely not exposed to the public eye. Most likely, the news pertaining to Osama bin Laden’s death is good for some Al-Qaeda leaders. Such news removes formal obstacles on the way to power in the organization.

Therefore, you can believe Osama’s death only when there is indisputable evidence presented. The question to be answered now is who benefits from the news of his death.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov