DHAKA: Candidates seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for the US presidency have begun their last debate of the year in New Hampshire.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains a frontrunner, reports the BBC.

Her main rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, apologised for his campaign's accessing of voter information compiled by Hillary Clinton's team.

"Not only do I apologise to Secretary Clinton, I want to apologise to our supporters," he said.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is also taking part in the debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Gun control and the fear of terror attacks in the United States were tackled early in the debate.

"Guns in and of themselves will not make America safer," said Hillary Clinton.

"Arming more people… is not the appropriate response to terrorism."

Hillary said that Republican rhetoric - especially from Donald Trump - was "fanning the flames of radicalisation".

But O'Malley accused of two rivals of "flip-flopping" in Washington over gun ownership restrictions.

For his part, Sanders said US foreign policy needed to focus on destroying the so-called Islamic State (IS or Isis) group, not removing Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria.

"It is not Assad that is attacking the United States," he said.

"First priority: destroy Isis," he said.

Sanders also criticised Qatar, saying that "instead of spending $200bn on the World Cup, maybe they should pay attention to Isis on their doorstep".

BDST: 0911 HRS, DEC 19, 2015
RS