An American newspaper has apologised for publishing a letter that suggested President Barack Obama should be executed.

In an editorial headlined "We bungled the Obama attack letter", the Philadelphia-based Daily Item apologised for not deleting two paragraphs which were "inescapably an incitement to have the chief executive of our government executed."

The letter criticised Obama’s handling of the current situation in Iraq and asked whether it was time for revolution against the Obama administration.

The letter, published on Memorial Day, said: "I think the appropriate, and politically correct, term is regime change. Forgive me for being blunt, but throughout history this has previously been accompanied by execution by guillotine, firing squad, public hanging.

"I have absolutely no reason to expect that current practice should be any different."

The Daily Item said: "We did something we shouldn’t have and the readers who called us on it deserve accountability.