Al-Qaida in North Africa issues fresh threats

The leader of Al-Qaida in North Africa has called for Muslims to unite in holy war against the region's governments and issued new threats against western targets, including France, Spain and the United States.

The message decried a "new colonial offensive" by the West in North Africa and warned Muslims not to back the local "regimes of apostasy and treason".

It was signed by Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, the pseudonym used by Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of Al-Qaida's North African offshoot.