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Top ten Osama Bin Laden sightings


Since the terrorist mastermind's disappearance following the September 11th attacks, there have been numerous reported sightings of Osama bin Laden, some stranger than others. Here we look at the top ten over the past decade.

By Emanuelle Degli Esposti 7:00AM BST 05 Apr 2011

1. In October 2001, an American woman told the emergency services that she had encountered Osama bin Laden at a convenience store in Pleasant View, Utah.

2. On December 17, 2001, a man in Colorado Springs, Colorado, informed authorities that he had seen the terrorist attending a Rotary Club event.

3. A senior Afghan official told Fox News in March 2002 that he had seen bin Laden travelling through the border territories with Pakistan. He described the former Taliban leader's appearence as unchanged, although he was noticeably thinner.

4. On February 27, 2004, Iranian News Agency IRNA reported that bin Laden had been captured some time earlier in Pakistan. Both the Pentagon and a spokesperson of the Pakistani armed forces denied this claim.

5. September 23, 2005. Bin Laden was believed by Pakistani officials to be on the Afghan-Pakistani border. He is said to have been keeping a low profile, with as little as ten men guarding him.

6. January 9, 2006. Michael Ledeen, an American Neoconservative 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."


7. September 7, 2007. American counter-terrorism expert, Richard A. Clarke, speculated that bin Laden's "phony looking beard" in a recent videotaped message may mean his original beard had been shaved to help him blend into different Muslim communities. Mr Clarke told ABC News, "One place where a beard would stand out would be southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia. No one's thought he was there, but that is an environment where most men, Muslim men don't have beards."

8. In February 2008, an American woman reported to the police that she had seen Osama bin Laden at her local library in Bellingham, Washington.

9. According to an obsucre website for learning Spanish, www.spanishdict.com, Osama bin Laden was spotted enjoying a carnval in Tecalpulco, Mexico, in the company of his good friend Michael Jackson.

10. October 18, 2010. CNN claims that: "Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living comfortably in a house in the north-west of Pakistan protected by local people and elements of the country's intelligence services"