Hicks al Qaeda bomb claim

Australian terror suspect David Hicks turned down a request by al Qaeda to become a suicide bomber, a United States interrogator said yesterday.

But the claim was questioned by Hicks' father, Terry, who suggested it did not make sense and was an attempt by the US Government to re-ignite fear of terrorism in a complacent US public.

American news programme 60 Minutes II interviewed a Guantanamo Bay interrogator, identified only as Tom, who said Hicks had provided a good insight into what happened inside al Qaeda terror training camps.

Tom said the Adelaide man had been moving up through the al Qaeda camps but his progress came to an abrupt end when he was asked to become a suicide bomber.