Pakistani officials say that two South Africans captured in Pakistan were planning to attack tourist sites in Johannesburg—but the South African government is in denial: South Africa Denies It’s al-Qaida Target.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Two South African men — captured along with a senior al-Qaida terrorist — were plotting attacks on tourist sites in their home country, and vowed an unceasing battle against America and President Bush when authorities nabbed them after a 12-hour gunbattle, a senior police official said Wednesday.

South African officials hotly rejected the claim that their country was a target, saying there was “no credible evidence” of such a plot.

The South African suspects were identified as Feroz Ibrahim, believed to be in his 30s, and Zubair Ismail, a man in his 20s, said Raja Munawar Hussain, the chief of police in Gujrat, the eastern Pakistani city where they were arrested on July 25.

Hussain told The Associated Press that authorities found several maps of South African cities among the items seized after the raid, which also netted Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian with a $25 million bounty on his head for the 1998 twin East Africa embassy bombings.

“They were all very well trained terrorists because of the way they fought the gunbattle and the way they engaged us for 12 hours. This is something no common man could have done,” said Hussain.

A Lahore-based intelligence official said authorities believe the men wanted to target tourist sites in Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial center. The men are believed to have arrived in Pakistan on a flight from the United Arab Emirates just days before their arrest.

The Johannesburg daily The Star quoted unidentified police sources as saying that key landmarks were among the targets, including the Carlton Center shopping mall, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg; parliament and the V&A Waterfront mall in Cape Town; and the U.S. Embassy, government buildings and the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria.

Another Johannesburg newspaper, ThisDay, said the British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was another target that was supposed to be attacked as it arrived in Durban or Cape Town from Mauritius.