All Whites confident security up to scratch

The All Whites will travel around South Africa in heavily guarded convoys and be surrounded by security at all times to thwart terrorism threats during next month's World Cup.

International authorities revealed yesterday they had detained an alleged al-Qaeda militant in Iraq who had planned attacks on players and fans at next month's World Cup in South Africa, where the All Whites will be playing.

New Zealand Football's spokesman, Jamie Scott, said the All Whites would be guarded in an extensive security bubble provided by Fifa that would leave "no stone unturned".

"There will be heavily trained security personnel with the team at all times. We will travel as part of a heavily guarded convoy," Mr Scott said.

The team will stay in a gated community with its own security on top of Fifa's, and friends and family will also be provided with security.

"This is the biggest sporting event in the world and Fifa is quite experienced in conducting events in all corners of the globe, so they're familiar with the risks," Mr Scott said.

At the Cup in Germany four years ago, almost 90,000 security guards were employed.

More than 1300 manned every game, on average, and about 100,000 objects were confiscated.

"For the athletes, they don't really have much opportunity to move anyway. They're job is to go there and represent their country on the football field. Most of their time will be taken up by training and matches," Mr Scott said.

He did not know of any specific advice received about the terrorism threat made public yesterday, but the team was in regular contact with Fifa about security, he said.

Saudi Arabian citizen Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani is being held by Iraqi authorities and has said he was recruited by al-Qaeda after arriving in Iraq in 2004 to fight Americans.

He had discussed plans to attack Danish and Dutch teams and fans at the World Cup, he told AP.

"We discussed the possibility of taking revenge for the insults of the prophet by attacking Denmark and Holland," al-Qahtani said.