Pakistan says two arrested South Africans were plotting attacks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two South Africans captured along with a senior al-Qaida terrorist were plotting attacks on tourist sites in their home country, Pakistani officials said Wednesday, a surprising target for Islamic terrorism given the African nation's vocal stand against the war in Iraq and Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

South African officials cast doubt on reports of a terror plot, though this past spring a top South African police official indicated that authorities foiled plans to attack the country during its April 14 elections.

The two men are believed to have arrived in Pakistan on a flight from the United Arab Emirates just days before their July 25 arrest, which followed a 12-hour gunbattle in the eastern city of Gujrat. They greeted police with curses and promised an unending battle against President Bush and anyone who supports him, according to a senior police official.

The South African suspects were identified as Feroz Ibrahim, believed to be in his 30s, and Zubair Ismail, in his 20s, said Gujrat Police Chief Raja Munawar Hussain.

Maps seized in raid

Hussain told The Associated Press that authorities found several maps of South African cities among the items seized after the raid, which also netted Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian with a $25 million bounty on his head for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

"They had some terror plans for South Africa," Hussain said. He had no details on the plans or the timing of an attack, but an intelligence official based in the eastern city of Lahore said authorities believe the men wanted to target tourist sites in Johannesburg, South Africa's commercial center.

International fugitives have repeatedly exploited South Africa's porous borders and al-Qaida militants have obtained South African passports, but this is the first time evidence has emerged of South Africans being recruited into the terror network.

The reports sent shock waves through South Africa, where until recently many considered their country immune from terrorist attacks. South Africa, where some 2 percent of the 45 million population are Muslims, has been outspoken in its opposition to the Iraq war and its condemnation of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

The Johannesburg daily The Star quoted unidentified police sources as saying that key landmarks were among the targets, including the Carlton Center shopping mall, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg; parliament and the V&A Waterfront mall in Cape Town; and the U.S. Embassy, government buildings and the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria.

Another Johannesburg newspaper, ThisDay, reported that the British Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner had also been a possible target when it stopped in Durban and Cape Town earlier this year.

But South African government ministers expressed outrage at the articles, which they said "aired with no credible evidence from our agencies or agencies in Pakistan," according to government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe.

"The Pakistani authorities indicated that they do not have information reflected in the media today," he said. "If there were any such information, their counterparts in South Africa would be informed first and not the media."

Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the South African Embassy in Pakistan was still waiting for permission to visit the prisoners and had not been notified of any details of the investigation.

In May, South African Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi announced that a number of foreign nationals with "evil intentions against this country" were arrested and sent home shortly before April 14 elections, leading to the arrests of suspected al-Qaida members in Jordan, Syria and Britain.

Selebi did not say who was arrested in South Africa or what action they allegedly planned.

But two suspects who were later released -- a South African and a Jordanian married to a South African -- told the AP they were among eight people questioned about an alleged al-Qaida plot to attack American and British targets during the election coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid. The two strongly denied any such plot and no charges have been brought against them.

Ibrahim and Ismail, in custody since last month, are not believed to be the same as two high-level al-Qaida terrorists who were arrested in the past few days. Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat has refused to name those men but said they were of African origin and that one had a multimillion dollar bounty on his head.

Hussain, the Gujrat police chief, said the two South Africans and Ghailani denounced the United States as they were arrested.

"They were all very emotional and very aggressive," he said. "They were putting down Bush, saying he is our enemy and we will pursue him and America until we win."

He said Ghailani was shaking with anger as he shouted: "God is great! This is God's land and we are his men."

Pakistani authorities also denied reports in a local newspaper that they had handed Ghailani to U.S. officials. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdur Rauf Chaudhry said Ghailani was still in Pakistani custody.

Intelligence gained from the arrest of Ghailani and an al-Qaida computer expert named Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan was a major factor in U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's decision to issue a warning Sunday about a possible al-Qaida attack on prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J.

Khan's father, contacted by the AP on Wednesday, said he hadn't seen his son in years.

"Whatever I know about my son is through newspaper reports. He was not been with me for the last two or three years," Noor Khan said from the doorway of his home in a middle-class Karachi neighborhood. "I am trying to get the facts but I am not too bothered."

He said his son had not been a part of any militant group until after he left home, and then quickly closed the door.

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Associated Press writers Alexandra Zavis in Johannesburg, Asif Shahzad in Lahore, Zarar Khan in Karachi and Munir Ahmad in Islamabad contributed to this report.