Iran's intelligence minister says the country has reliable information that former head of the al Qaeda terrorist group Osama bin Laden died of disease some time ago before US raid, a private TV channel reported. "We have accurate information that bin Laden died of illness some time ago," Heidar Moslehi told reporters on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"If the US military and intelligence apparatus have really arrested or killed bin Laden, why don't they show him (his dead body) why have they thrown his corpse into the sea?" Moslehi asked.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2011