Nip It In The Bud

There's a rumor floating around that the Al Qaeda leader Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin is not dead. I say rumor, but it doesn't even really have the strength of a rumor. Someone simply posted the claim on a AQ website. But even Al Jazeera is putting him in the 'deceased' column:

But al-Muqrin's death has been verified based on the pictures, forensic tests and family identification, Saudi political analyst Zuhair Harthy told Aljazeera.

He dismissed the website statement, saying they were trying to create a "media tempest" to shake what he said is the triumph of the Saudi authorities.