WASHINGOTN, Aug 7: The US State Department has said that statements like a Republican presidential candidate’s threat to bomb Islam’s holiest sites hurt US interests and endanger American diplomats working abroad.

Spokesman Sean McCormack, when asked if such statements put American diplomats in harm’s way, said: “There have been examples of that.” He recalled that a Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Muslim holy book at Guantanamo Bay had started worldwide protests against the United States.

The spokesman said that while Congressman Tom Tancredo will have to account for his remarks about bombing Muslim holy sites, it’s important for people abroad to know that “the official position of the US government is that those remarks are just outrageous.”

Mr Tancredo, however, has refused to change his position.

At a presidential debate in Iowa on Sunday, and at other debates since then, he insisted that the US should reserve the right to bomb Islam’s two holiest sites, Makkah and Medina, in retaliation for a major terrorist attack on American soil.

“If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy site in Makkah and Medina,” Mr Tancredo said.

Earlier, a State Department spokesman called his comments “absolutely crazy” and “reprehensible.” No other presidential candidate has backed Mr Tancredo.