North Africa Qaeda wing vows more suicide bombings

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North Africa wing said on Tuesday it would carry out more suicide bombings and urged Muslims to join its ranks as suicide bombers.

Attacks in the past few weeks have deepened fears of a broad upsurge in violence in North Africa after the group set a goal of linking up with similar Islamist groups in the region and using it as a base for bombings against European targets.

"We have decided to adopt the style of martyrdom operations in the confrontation with our enemies from now on," Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, a leader of al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, said in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television.

He said the group had issued instructions for the selection of targets "that achieves the goals of jihad (holy war)".

"We bring good tidings to our nation and youth and tell them that the list of martyrdom-seekers has become long and is growing every day," he said.

"This is a crusader war on Islam and a battle of destiny between the infidels and believers so do not miss out ... come to a paradise that is as wide as earth and the skies."

The Algerian-based group has claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings in Algiers on April 11 that killed 33 people. In Morocco, six Islamists blew themselves up in a month in Casablanca this year, killing another person.

The video included footage that Al Jazeera said showed militants preparing the bombs used in the attacks in the Algerian capital.

"Allah is great," chanted off-camera militants.

The group was previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC.

The GSPC was involved in the conflict that broke out in Algeria in 1992 after military-backed authorities scrapped parliamentary elections that an Islamist party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people were killed.

(Additional reporting by Cairo)