JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) The World Cup faces no terror threat at the moment, according to South Africa's police minister, who dismissed speculation less than two weeks before the tournament opens about plots by groups ranging from al-Qaida to homegrown white militants.

Police minister Nathi Mthethwa said yestyerday that if a threat were to emerge, his forces would be ready. He said preparations since 2004, when South Africa won the bid to be the first African country to host soccer's premier event, have included working closely with security and intelligence agents from the United States, Britain and the 29 other countries sending teams to South Africa. The monthlong tournament begins June 11.

Mthethwa dismissed concerns that while South African security forces were prepared to respond, its intelligence agencies would be stretched to prevent an attack.

"I don't think that South African intelligence is weak," said Mthethwa, adding that if so, it would have been pointed out by the foreign governments with whom it has been working to prepare for the World Cup.

South African investigators went to Iraq after security forces there announced they had arrested an alleged al-Qaida militant who had talked to friends about attacking the Denmark and Netherlands squads at the World Cup. Mthethwa said investigators dismissed that threat.

STRATFOR, a private security think tank based in Austin, Texas, said in a pre-World Cup review of South Africa that it was unlikely that groups like al-Qaida had the capacity to carry out a major attack here.

Mthethwa also said there was nothing to substantiate a report in a South African newspaper Sunday of terror cells and training camps in the region, and at least one arrest in South Africa linked to the World Cup.

Mthethwa added that white South African extremists arrested in recent weeks for stockpiling weapons are a "lunatic fringe" and no threat to the tournament.

"It would be folly for any country to grandstand and proclaim that it is immune to terror attacks," Mthethwa told reporters in Johannesburg. But "there is no threat to South Africa as we speak now".

The US State Department made a similar point last week when it issued a warning to Americans living in South Africa or travelling here for the World Cup.