An American republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo has defended his suggestion that America should threaten to bomb Muslim holy sites in order to deter a nuclear attack on US soil.

Mr Tancredo first made his controversial position in July, prompting the State Department to describe it as "absolutely crazy"

On a live televised debate on the channel ABC, Tancredo said; "My task as president of the United States is primarily to do one thing - by the way, not to make sure everybody has health care or everybody's child is educated - my task is to do one thing: to protect and defend this country. "And that means to deter - and I want to underline 'deter' - any kind of aggression, especially the type we are threatened with by Al Qaeda, which is nuclear attack.

The State Department reacted angrily to Tancredo's initial comments. "Let me just say that it is absolutely outrageous and reprehensible for anyone to suggest attacks on holy sites - whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or those of any other religion," departmental spokesman Tom Casey said.