The fate of Osama Bin Laden was the subject of intense debate last night after a leaked intelligence report claimed he had died of typhoid.

But the document was quickly contradicted by a security source in Saudi Arabia - where the Al Qaeda leader was born, and many of his family still live - who said he was still alive, but extremely unwell.

The French security report claimed the terrorist mastermind died in a remote region of Pakistan last month.

The report, compiled by the DGSE, the French equivalent of MI6, claimed that Saudi security services received word of his death on September 4.

Numerous reports have surfaced over the years suggesting Bin Laden, who has a $25million price on his head, was dead or seriously wounded, but this is the first officially documented claim from a Western security agency.

French president Jacques Chirac yesterday confirmed that the report, leaked to the French paper L'Est Republicain, was genuine. But he said the information was 'in no way whatsoever confirmed'.

Chirac said he was 'a bit surprised' at the leak and has asked defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie to investigate how it came to be published.