Has Bin Laden died of typhoid? - Weighing claims and implications.

The contents of L'Est Republicain's report suggests that the newspaper had direct access to this DGSE material: quoting from what appears to be an internal memorandum, it states that a "usually most reliable source" had learned that the Saudi Arabian secret services believed that bin Laden had travelled to Pakistan on or around August 23 to seek immediate medical treatment for a severe bout of typhoid which had partially paralysed his lower body.

The authorities subsequently received information that he had died on September 4: Saudi security agencies were urgently seeking more information, focusing on where bin Laden may have been buried.

On past form, the DGSE might have been expected to leak such dramatic news to one of the Paris-based national newspapers - Le Figaro has been a regular beneficiary in the past - but L'Est Republicain is among the country's oldest and most respected provincial dailies, with a circulation of some 500,000.

The French Defence Ministry's announcement of an investigation into the leak could indicate that L'Est Republicain's information did indeed come from the top.