“The US government has issued a travel alert warning its citizens that South Africa faces a heightened risk of terrorism during the World Cup.

It says that large-scale public events present an attractive target.

‘There is a heightened risk that extremist groups will conduct terrorist acts within South Africa in the near future,’ the US state department said.

“The North African terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to attack this summer’s World Cup games in South Africa.

‘How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing,’ reads a statement the group published in a recent issue of the Jihadi online magazine Mushtaqun Lel Jannah (Longing to Paradise).

“Supporters at the World Cup in South Africa face ‘a deadly serious threat’ from terrorists encouraged by the global impact of last week’s atrocity in Angola, security analysts have warned.

The lethal ambush on the Togo squad showed the ease with which militants could gain publicity with a copycat attack on a bigger stage, said Anneli Botha, a researcher at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies which does work on behalf of the United Nations.”