Dear Mr. bin Laden,
Are you OK?
One has not heard from you since October 29, 2004, when you had sent a recorded message through the Al Jazeera on the eve of the US Presidential elections.
One knows that such periodic spells of silence are not unusual in the interest of your physical security. But whenever there are long spells of silence, the rumour mills start over-working.
This had happened in the past and this is happening now, but this time, the rumours are stronger and more persistent than in the past. In the last week of April, 2005, there were frenzied rumours of your death following a posting by an unidentified person in a web site identified with the Al Qaeda network. Not much credibility was given to the rumours.
In an analysis of these rumours, the well-respected North-East Intelligence Network, a non-governmental online terrorism analysis group of the US, said as follows on April 29, 2005: