DUBAI: The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called on Muslims in the Arabian peninsula to wage jihad, or holy war, against Christians and Jews in the region, in an Internet recording posted on Monday.

"You have no other way out from this plight than to wage jihad," the wing's deputy leader, Saeed al-Shehri, a former inmate at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, said in an audio tape posted on a website often used by Islamist groups.