US embassy in Algiers on Qaeda alert

The US embassy in Algiers is warning potential targets about an al-Qaeda threat to launch missile attacks against planes chartered by foreign oil firms in North Africa, officials said Friday.
The warning comes after US officials expressed concern about the fate of thousands of shoulder-launched missiles in neighbouring Libya, where Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown last month by a rebel movement.
"The US embassy in Algiers received threat information," the State Department said when asked about a newspaper report that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) planned missile attacks against planes with oil workers.