Qaeda targets U.S. oil interests in N.Africa: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's growing north Africa network plans to attack U.S. interests seeking control of the region's energy riches, its Algerian-based leader said in remarks published on Tuesday. The network of militants from Mauritania to Libya sees U.S. interests as legitimate targets because Washington backed the region's "criminal" governments and stole Algerian oil, the New York Times quoted Abdelmalek Droukdel as saying. "We found America building military bases in the south of our country and conducting military exercises, and plundering our oil and planning to get our gas," Droukdel, also known as Abou Mossab Abdelouadoud, was quoted as saying. "Therefore, it became our right and our duty to ... declare clearly the American interests are legitimate targets." OPEC member Algeria, Africa's second largest country,... [read full story]