'The Americans tell me they don't know, and they are much more equipped than us to trace him. And our own intelligence services obviously think that he does not exist any more, that he is dead,' President Zardari told reporters.

'But there is no evidence, you cannot take that as a fact,' he said. 'We are between facts and fiction.'

President Zardari was responding to reports that Pakistani Taleban in the troubled Swat valley have said they would welcome bin Laden if he wants to visit the former Pakistani hill resort which is now in the hands of Islamists.

'The question is whether he is alive or dead. There is no trace of him,' the president said. -- AFP