BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have arrested a Saudi al-Qaeda member who an official said on Monday was involved in a plot to attack next month's World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa.
Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi gave no details and offered no evidence for the claim and it was not possible to verify it.
The detention of the Saudi national comes at a time when already frosty relations between Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia and now Shi'ite Muslim-led Iraq are under additional strains.
Moussawi's allegation about a Saudi's involvement in a plot against the World Cup came after former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal accused Iraq's prime minister of hijacking the country's March election.
Moussawi, who reports to the prime minister's office, said Abdullah Azzam al-Qahtani was a former Saudi army lieutenant.
"He was planning to bomb the holy shrines in Najaf and Kerbala," Moussawi told a news conference in Baghdad.