Osama Bin Laden is or was suffering from kidney failure and probably died in the past two years, according to a report in the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ra'y. The writer, Fahd al-Fanik, explained that Bin Laden's two-year silence indicates that the so-called number two Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, actually is the leader of the terrorist network.
Al-Fanik stated that Al Qaeda does not want to publicize Bin Laden's death "so that it will not affect the morale of the members and their active and sleeper cells."