No apology from Colorado lawmaker

WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo has refused to apologize for his comments on how the U.S. should respond to a nuclear attack by Islamist terrorists, a report said.

The Colorado Republican reportedly suggested the United States target Muslim holy sites if nuclear attacks occurred on U.S. sites, the Rocky Mountain News reported Tuesday.

Tancredo later said he was not advocating such a response, but merely discussing what could happen in a hypothetical situation.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. Monday, Tancredo said: "It's a tough issue to deal with. Tough things are said. And we should not shy away from saying things that need to be said," the News reported.

The apology was demanded by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Islamic civil rights group in the United States, the report said.