July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may die of kidney disease within the next six months, Time magazine reported, citing two unidentified U.S. officials.

The amount of drugs the terrorist leader is taking to combat the disease led the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to conclude in a report that he has six to 18 months to live, the magazine said, citing one of the officials who has seen the report.

The CIA has denied the existence of the report or its conclusions, Time said, citing agency spokesman Paul Gimigliano.

Such reports are unreliable because they are trying to make a diagnosis with only fragments of information from thousands of miles away, Time said, citing Paul Pillar, a former CIA analyst and deputy director of its counterterrorism center, who now teaches at Georgetown University in Washington.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 2, 2008 08:42 EDT