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Gove rnment has allayed fears among South Africans following reports that suspected terrorists arrested in Pakistan had been planning to attack some tourist sites in the country.

Government said there was no need for panic after it was reported that the suspects had confessed under interrogation that they had been planning attacks on Pretoria and Johannesburg.

The assurance follows today's reports that two South Africans arrested in Pakistan together with a high profile fugitive and Al-Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, allegedly told the Pakistani police that they were planning terrorist attacks against South Africa.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a Tanzanian national suspected to be behind the deadly attacks on United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

The two men, Feroz Abu Bakar Ganchi, a medical doctor from Fordsburg in Johannesburg and Zubair Ismail, an Islamic student from Laudium in Pretoria were arrested 11 days ago in Gujrat, Pakistan.

Cabinet after its meeting in Pretoria today expressed outrage at the manner in which the issue had been reported "without any credible substantiation from security agencies in our country and in Pakistan".

Chief government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said this afternoon that reports that certain installations in the country were targeted ought to be viewed as "unofficial statements".

"If there were any such information from the Pakistani security agencies, the first people to know would have been their South African counterparts," he said, adding that such reports by the media would lead to unwarranted alarm among the public.

National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director-General Vusi Mavimbela explained that South Africa's intelligence officials had been in constant liaison with their Pakistani counterparts who denied having spoken to the media regarding the captured South Africans.

"Therefore, there is no (official) information that any particular installation in South Africa is targeted by either the Al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist group", he affirmed.

He said the arrest of South African nationals in other countries on suspicions of terrorism did not mean South Africa was a terrorist target and there was "no need for panic".

Asked whether reports that the luxury British ocean liner, the QE2, had also been targeted earlier this year as it sailed along the country's coastline were true, Mr Netshitenzhe said government had not received any communication on targets outside the country.

He added that security agencies in the country continuously conducted security threat analysis and decided on specific measures to take to deal with such situations.

"Our government has the wherewithal to deal with the challenge of terrorism in our own country and in co-operation with other governments in Africa and further afield," he said.

Government reiterated its principled rejection of any acts of terrorism and its commitment to work with international agencies and other states in eradicating the scourge of terrorism, he added. -BuaNews

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