Manchester, United States: White House hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders on Saturday apologized directly to Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton for his campaign peeking at voter data belonging to his rival.

‘Yes, I apologize,’ Sanders said when asked by a moderator at the party’s debate in New Hampshire whether Clinton deserved an apology.

‘This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired,’ Sanders said, adding that he hoped both campaigns could ‘work together’ on an independent investigation into what happened.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday temporarily suspended the Sanders campaign’s access to the party’s voter database after the breach was discovered. Sanders fired a staffer for accessing the data.

The incident occured when a technical glitch — in which a firewall protecting proprietary data was briefly lowered on Wednesday — made voter data unique to the Clinton campaign viewable for outside eyes.

Clinton said she accepted her rival’s apology and supported launching an independent inquiry.

But while she stressed that her staff had worked hard to collate private data, ‘we should move on because I don’t think the American people are all that interested in this.

‘I think they’re more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us,’ she said.

The third Democratic debate, the final one of 2015, also includes former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who is polling well behind his two rivals.