WASHINGTON, June 20: Barack Obama’s belaboured attempts to hide his Muslim past is beginning to hurt the Democratic presidential candidate, forcing him on Friday to apologise to two Muslim women barred from a group picture with him for wearing hijab.

One of the women, Shimaa Abdelfadeel, told the reporters that Mr Obama called her “to personally convey his deepest apologies and acknowledge that this was inexcusable.”

Mr Obama also left a voice mail for the other woman, Hebba Aref.

Muslim leaders had urged the White House hopeful to personally apologise to the women.

“We both immensely appreciate the Senator's phone call and his commitment to remedy this issue,” Abdelfadeel said. “We commend him for displaying qualities befitting an effective President.”

Speaking about the incident, Abdelfadeel said that on Monday, “two volunteers denied us seating behind the stage the Senator would soon take.” She said: “The volunteers informed us that we were not allowed to sit in that area due to the hijab.”

Abdelfadeel, a Sudanese-American, said that the “incident was unfortunate and extremely disappointing.” But she added that “we will continue to support Senator Obama in his campaign and wish him the best as the race continues.”

Mr Obama’s campaign has blamed the incident on volunteers.

“The actions of these volunteers were unacceptable and in no way reflect any policy of my campaign,” Mr Obama said in a statement.

“Our campaign is about bringing people together, and I'm grateful that Ms Abdelfadeel accepted our apology and I hope Ms Aref and any who were offended accept my apology as well,” he said.

“Although we welcome the Obama campaign's apology, we are extremely concerned about the level of Islamophobia in our society that would prompt other minorities to view Muslim supporters as potential liabilities,” said Corey Saylor, national legislative director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights group in North America and had led the call for a personal apology from Mr Obama.

Since he announced his intention to run for the White House almost two years ago, Mr Obama has struggled to counter false Internet rumours that he is a Muslim.

The rumour mongers, however, point out that Mr Obama’s father was a Kenyan Muslim while his step father was a Muslim from Indonesia. Mr Obama lived in Indonesia as a child and went to a school where children used to say Friday prayers together.

Mr Obama's vigorous denials of his Muslim past have frustrated some Muslims in the US because of the implication that there is something wrong with the religion.