More conspiracy theories...

The latest from Australia.

AUSTRALIA'S most radical Muslim group is promoting the bizarre conspiracy theory that planes did not destroy New York's World Trade Centre.

Instead, the prayer group run by controversial Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran suggests the Twin Towers were destroyed by controlled explosions, presumably set off by agents of the US Government.

The radical theory has been given prominence in a newspaper, Mecca News, edited by Sheik Omran and published by his group, the Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association. The paper, which claims a readership of more than 10,000, is distributed around the country.

The story is the second part of a campaign to persuade local Muslims that the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were part of a US-inspired conspiracy. The paper last month promoted the theory that a plane did not crash into the Pentagon in the September 11 attacks and that the story was a major hoax.