One of Osama bin Laden’s sons was probably killed by a United States missile strike in Pakistan earlier this year, US National Public Radio reported, citing US intelligence sources.

A US counter-intelligence official said it was “80 to 85 percent” certain that Sa’ad bin Laden, who was in his twenties, had been killed.

The official said the son of the al Qaeda leader was not a major figure, and would not have been important enough to target but “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

It was unknown whether Sa’ad was anywhere near his father when he died, NPR said. A US intelligence official said in January that Sa’ad was freed from custody in Iran and probably went to Pakistan.

The United States believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan. While intelligence agencies have had near misses tracking his deputy Ayman al Zawahri in Pakistan, the hunt for bin Laden went cold several years ago.

While al Qaeda often releases audio-taped messages from bin Laden, the last time a video-tape was released was two years ago, and there is constant speculation that he might have died.

The difficulties of confirming the death of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the badlands of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was underlined by a surprise telephone call to Reuters from a spokesman for the Taliban in the Swat valley, where the army launched an offensive almost three months ago.

The Pakistani military said earlier this month that an air strike had probably wounded commander Fazlullah, but his spokesman Muslim Khan said his leader was alive and unhurt.

“All of the Taliban leadership is okay,” the spokesman, Muslim Khan said before playing what he said was an audio recording of Fazlullah on Wednesday.

“Pakistani rulers and generals have carried out suppression on Pashtuns and the people of Malakand division (of North West Frontier Province) to please the United States,” Fazlullah said, though it was not possible to verify the authenticity.

Mrs Chinwe Okoye, dealer to Oando Plc, (left) briefing pressmen on the operation of her station, Oando Trans Amadi, during a recent Oando promo in Port Harcourt , while Mr Kamar Bakriw, chief opeating officer, Oando Lagos (right) and Mike Oshai, retail field manager, look on. Photo: Chris Monyanaga.