The White House said Friday that President Obama received 12 stitches after being struck in the mouth by someone’s elbow during a game of basketball.

The individual who hit the president was not named. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the blow was “inadvertent.”

Obama was playing basketball this morning — a frequent recreational activity for the 44th president — at Fort McNair when the accident occurred.

ADVERTISEMENT

His injury was closed by doctors at the White House, Gibbs added.

Pool reports noted that doctors used a smaller filament to seal the president’s wound, which increases the number of stitches required but reduces scarring.

This video is from The Associated Press, uploaded to YouTube Nov. 25, 2010.

Photo: AFP.