Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, which is set to host the opening and final World Cup games was on the terrorist target list, details emerging on Thursday show.
According to information gleaned from media reports, the al-Qaeda terrorist where planning to use car bombs laced with rat poison to make victims bleed to death more quickly while other armed militants would then gun down anyone who tried to help the wounded.
Earlier this week, Iraqi authorities arrested a man linked to plans to unleash terror on the World Cup.
Soccer City is due to be officially opened on Saturday after extensive renovations.
South Africa and Mexico clash at the stadium on June 11.
Reports say the group was going to target the two teams Denmark and The Netherlands but said their fans would be attacked using car bombs and guns, if Al Qaeda could not get to the players.
Also, South African officials had revealed last month that they were aware of threats from al-Qaeda in relation to the United States vs England match.
South Africa intelligence authorities Wednesday said they are taking the threat reports seriously and talking to a number of intelligence services around the world.
“We can’t lower our guard. We have to always be vigilant because no country is immune.”
Meanwhile, Bafana Bafana players on Thursday said they were still focused despite reports of the foiled terror plot on the World Cup.
Defender Bryce Moon is quoted saying the team was aware of these reports but was not worried.
“I had this conversation with somebody and as professionals we don’t allow some things to side-track us. We’re professional, we have to keep our minds focused on the jobs we have to do so I think South Africa’s ready and I think this is going to be one of the best World Cup’s ever” he said.
