According to a Jihadi website, an Islamic terrorist faction with links to Al-Qua’eda hopes to attack matches during the 2010 World Cup with undetectable bombs.

Countries threatened by the militant Algerian group who call themselves ‘al-Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb’ include the USA, England, Germany, Italy and France. It believes these countries to be enemies of Islam, on a “Zionist crusade”.

The message in the online extremist magazine specifically threatened England’s opening match against the USA, highlighting their known hatred for these two western nations.

The match, on the 12th of June in the South African town of Rustenburg will attract thousands of football fans from the UK and America, as well as local people. The stadium can hold 45,000 spectators. This fixture is probably the most eagerly anticipated match in Group C, a group which also contains Algeria itself, and will be one of the biggest draws of the group stage – it is most unlikely any of those seats will be empty.

The sinister and menacing text found on the site described how “amazing” the football game would be if a bomb turned the stadium “upside down”, killing thousands of people, all during the live broadcast. This disturbing image was finished off with the simple, but somewhat creepy words “God willing”.

Germany, Italy, England and France are all among the top seven seeded teams going into the World Cup (the USA is 11th), so there is bound to be a lot of attention on their games. Unfortunately, with these nations pinpointed as targets for extremist attacks and with general security concerns about the event being held in South Africa in any case, it is not just fans who will be watching closely.

The site is reported by anti-terror experts as being genuine, and whilst that does not necessarily mean that what is posted there is true, it is being taken very seriously by officials. It is not usual for al-Qua’eda to give details of the date, location and method of an attack, however this threat is being treated gravely by those involved in World Cup security. Another concern is that even if those who posted the threat are not genuinely planning to attack this fixture or any others involving targeted nations, other militants who read it may be inspired to do so themselves.

Police in South Africa are said to be being trained by police officers brought over from America in detecting and combating chemical, biological and even nuclear attacks. Interpol, the international police agency, will also reportedly be basing themselves in South Africa while the tournament is taking place.

Despite this threat and the general concern about terrorism that would surround and major global sporting event in the current climate, South African officials have expressed confidence that they have sufficient measures in place to ensure that the World Cup will be a safe and positive celebration of football.