Would-be World Cup attacker tells all

BAGHDAD (AP)

An alleged al-Qaida militant detained in Iraq said yesterday he had talked to friends about attacking Danish and Dutch teams at the World Cup in South Africa next month to avenge insults against the Prophet Muhammad.

Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani said he initially came to Iraq in 2004 to fight Americans and was recruited by al-Qaida.

An Iraqi security official with knowledge of the investigation said al-Qahtani was arrested after a joint United States (US)-Iraqi operation in April that killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the two top al-Qaida in Iraq. The official asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to discuss details of the case.

Documents found in the house where they were killed, including a note written by al-Qahtani detailing a plan to launch attacks at the World Cup, led to his arrest on May 3.

"We discussed the possibility of taking revenge for the insults of the prophet by attacking Denmark and Holland," al-Qahtani told The AP. "The goal was to attack the Danish and the Dutch teams and their fans," he added.

"If we were not able to reach the teams, then we'd target the fans," he said, adding that they hoped to use guns and car bombs.

The Iraqi security official said no steps had yet been taken to put the plan into motion, such as obtaining bomb-making materials.

Plot needs approval

Al-Qahtani said the plot still needed approval from the al-Qaida chain of command, specifically the group's number two, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Al-Qahtani said he had been captured by US forces in 2007 and held at Camp Bucca until he was released in 2009; a U.S. military official, Keli Chevalier, confirmed that American forces had captured a man by the name of Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani and that he was held at Camp Bucca.

Al-Qahtani said the idea came up in late 2009 during talks with friends over some publications in Western media they deemed offensive to Muslims.

In 2006, 12 cartoons of the prophet in a Danish newspaper sparked furious protests in Muslim countries.

In the Netherlands, an anti-Islam party has become the country's fastest growing political movement. Its leader, Geert Wilders, calls the Quran a "fascist book" and wants it banned in the Netherlands. His 2008 short film offended many Muslims by juxtaposing Quranic verses with images of terrorism by Islamic radicals.

He advocated taxing clothing commonly worn by Muslims, such as headscarves.