American al Qaeda member Adam Yahiye Gadahn appears in a newly released al Qaeda-produced video.(File Photo)


BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- A wanted American member of al Qaeda warned that U.S. embassies and other interests at home and abroad are "legitimate targets" for terrorist attacks, media reported Monday.

"We shall continue to target you at home and abroad just as you target us at home and abroad ... ," Adam Yahiye Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki and Azzam the American, said in a video Sunday.

The one-hour 17-minute video was posted on LauraMansfield.com, an American website which monitors terrorist groups.

In the video, Gadahn made explicit threats against the United States and U.S. interests, singling out embassies and consulates.

"These spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq, and which still provide vital moral, military, material, and logistical support to the Crusade, shall continue to be legitimate targets for brave Muslims... unless you heed our demands," Gadahn said.

"Stop the Crusade and leave the Muslims alone," he added.

In a message to the Americans and their "Crusader allies," Gadahn said: "The amount of respect we have for your international law is even less than the respect you hold for defined sharia (Islamic law), and our observance of it is comparable to your observance of sharia."

The video was shown about two months after Gadahn warned in another Internet video that U.S. President George W. Bush should withdraw all his troops from Muslim land or face attacks worse than Sept. 11.

The video included clips from old speeches by al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri. It also featured a computer animated recreation of a March 2006 suicide attack that killed U.S. diplomat David Foy in Karachi and testimony from a man who claimed to be the bomber.

According to CNN, FBI investigators are analyzing the video for any indication of Gadahn's whereabouts.

"The increased messaging from al Qaeda could represent different things and our analytical personnel, working with (intelligence community) partners, review every message for clues and leads," said an FBI spokeman Richard Kolko.

He noted that the content of Gadahn's message is nothing new.

"There is no shortage of al Qaeda making noise that they intend to attack the U.S. or its interests overseas," Kolko said. "We are concerned, but that is why we do our job every day."

Gadahn, who is believed to be in Pakistan, was charged with treason in the U.S. last fall and has been wanted since 2004 by the FBI, which is offering a 1 million U.S. dollars reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Gadahn was born in 1978 in southern California, the son of a 1960s Jewish rock musician who later converted to Christianity and became a rural goat farmer.

Gadahn is believed to have left California for Karachi in 1998 and gradually lost contact with relatives in the United States.

(Agencies)