Terrorism & the World Cup: Al-Qaeda Says It Will Attack Athletes at World Cup Games in South Africa in June
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 11, 2010
Nothing is safe from radical Islamic terrorists… including the upcoming FIFA World Cup tournament in June in South Africa.
From FOX News, U.S. Helps South Africa Beef Up Security for World Cup After Al Qaeda Threats:
The State Department has been providing South African police with extensive training after threats against the American and British teams during the world’s most-watched sporting event.
Al Qaeda has put the American and British soccer teams directly in its crosshairs, circulating word online that the athletes are prime targets for an attack at the World Cup Games in South Africa in June — and the State Department has been providing South African police with extensive training in an effort to prevent a catastrophe at the most-watched sporting event in the world.
The threats from Al Qaeda target a range of teams competing at the World Cup, but the June 12 USA vs. England match, scheduled for live broadcast, is the terrorists’ top priority, according to threats published in an online Jihadist magazine.
“The game … is broadcast live. The stadium is full of a Crusader audience while the sound of a blast shocks the stands and turns the stadium on its head. God willing, there will [be] dozens and hundreds of casualties. 50 grams alone are sufficient for such an operation,” reads a post on the online magazine.
“All the inspection barriers and the x-ray screening machines the U.S. may send after reading this article will not bring about the discovery of the manner in which these explosives will be brought into the stadium, for a simple reason that will be made known at the appropriate time.”
The South African Ministry of Police says it is aware of the threats, and the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security is providing support as the host country beefs up security in preparations for the tournament.
From Oakland Press, FIFA: World Cup terrorist threat made:
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A FIFA executive says a terrorist threat has been made on the World Cup.
Secretary general Jerome Valcke commented Friday on an online magazine article that said “how beautiful” it would be if a bomb exploded at the U.S.-England game June 12 in the South African city of Rustenburg.
Valcke says World Cup organizers are working at the “highest level of security.”
The comments appeared to come from a contributor to a militant online magazine called “Yearners for Paradise,” not the usual sites used by al-Qaida and other groups to make threats. In the article, the author says he is not a spokesman for al-Qaida.
From Telegraph, Terrorism threat to England opening match against USA at football World Cup:
British intelligence officials have been alerted after the North African group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, issued a statement warning that suicide bombers using “undetectable” explosives would target the England versus United States match in Rustenburg in June.
The group have been behind a string of kidnaps of Westerners, and last year were condemned for the “barbaric” execution of a British hostage.
It posted its statement on Jihadi website Mushtaqun Lel Jannah, translated as Longing to Paradise, saying that “al-Qaeda will have a presence in the games”.
It continued: “How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain [sic] be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing.”
The State Department in America said that “appropriate precautions” were being taken to protect the month-long tournament and officials in Britain declined to comment on the report.
But in a sign the threat is being taken seriously, a government minister in Italy – also named alongside France and Germany as potential targets – yesterday met with football chiefs to discuss the warning.
Roberto Maroni, the interior minister, spoke with the country’s football association president Giancarlo Abete, a spokesman confirmed.
Franco Frattini, the foreign minister, wrote on his Facebook page “the world wouldn’t tolerate another Munich”, in reference to the abduction and murder of members of the Israeli Olympic team in 1972.
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And Obama wants us to have tea and crumpets with these terrorists. unbelivable.
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