Al-Qaeda has vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslims in China's Urumqi city by targeting the country's workforce in northwest Africa, a newspaper said on Tuesday, citing an intelligence report.

The call for reprisals against China has come from Algerian-based Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the South China Morning Post said, summarising the intelligence report by London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt.