Al-Qaeda affiliate in North Africa said to have sights on other Western targets

New intelligence on al-Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa indicates that the militant group is seeking to carry out attacks on other Western targets in the region after its deadly assault on a natural gas complex in Algeria, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday.

The push to mount follow-on strikes is seen as evidence that al-Qaeda was emboldened by the Jan. 16 raid and subsequent battle with Algerian security services that killed dozens of hostages and militants.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said that new streams of information have surfaced in the weeks since the assault and that “what we have seen is intelligence suggesting a desire to carry out more attacks.”

The official and others stressed that U.S. spy agencies have not seen evidence that a specific plot has been set in motion, instead describing the al-Qaeda planning as broad and “aspirational.”