Osama bin Laden, if he's alive, celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday, and his friends in the Taliban prayed for his long life. The al Qaeda leader's long silence has fuelled speculation that the world's most-wanted fugitive may have died, though many in the international intelligence community reckon militant Web sites would circulate word of his death.
"He is alive. I am 100 percent sure," Taliban spokesman Mullah Hayatullah Khan told Reuters, adding that senior leaders were in touch with bin Laden, reinforcing a widely held view that he is hiding near the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Khan said special prayers were offered by Taliban fighters in camps in Afghanistan to mark bin Laden's birth on March 10, 1957, in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. "We prayed that Allah may give him 200 years to live," Khan said," by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. "When we woke up today, we offered collective and long prayers for him because he is a great mujahid (holy warrior)."
"He is the man who raised voices against excesses being committed on Muslims all over the world," the Taliban spokesman said. The United States also announced a $25 million reward for any information leading to the arrest or death of bin Laden, but leads on his whereabouts have been few and far between.