LONDON, Sept 10: A London-based newspaper, the Times in a report on Monday said one of Osama’s top henchmen, in a slip of the tongue, revealed that his leader is dead.

The paper says, “the blunder was made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has confessed to being the operational mastermind behind the Sept 11 attacks”.

The Times said Mr Mohammed was speaking in a propaganda exercise organised by Al Qaeda for dissemination during the first anniversary on Sept 11.

A television journalist from al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television station that has previously broadcast exclusive footage of Osama, was blindfolded and taken to meet two Al Qaeda chiefs near Karachi. The reporter Yosri Fouda, London bureau chief for al-Jazeera, concluded that Osama bin Laden is now likely to be dead.

The reporter claims that in a derelict building near Karachi he met Mr Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh.

“The hijackers were recruited from Al Qaeda’s “Department of Martyrs”, which still has scores of volunteers for future suicide attacks, the men claimed.