BAGHDAD — A senior Al-Qaeda militant had been planning an attack against the football World Cup which kicks off in South Africa next month, an Iraqi security spokesman said on Monday.
The 30-year-old Saudi national, who was arrested two weeks ago, had been in contact with Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri as part of his planning for the attack, though no further details were made available.
Abdullah Azzam Saleh Misfar al-Qahtani “participated in the planning of a terrorist act in South Africa during the World Cup,” Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta said at a news conference in the Iraqi capital.
He added that Qahtani, who was in charge of “security” for the terror network in Baghdad, was in contact “with the terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri to organise the plan hatched by Al-Qaeda.”
Zawahiri is Al-Qaeda’s number two and deputy to Osama bin Laden.

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