WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump lashed out again Monday at progressive Democratic congresswomen he attacked over the weekend in tweets dismissed as racist.

"When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions," Trump said.

In his initial attack on Sunday, Trump said congresswomen he did not name came from corrupt, poorly managed countries to which they should return.

Democratic presidential candidates and senior legislators branded the comments racist and xenophobic.

Trump last year reportedly referred to countries in Africa as "shithole" nations, and has often described the influx of US-bound migrants as an "invasion."

He was also a leading proponent of the "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born on US soil and therefore could not legally be president.

On Sunday, Trump referred on Twitter to "'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen" in remarks that appeared to be aimed at a group of young, outspoken, liberal women of color, all first-time members of the House of Representatives.

These include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

They "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world," Trump tweeted.

He accused the women of "viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run."

"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done," Trump wrote.

Trump did not identify the targets of his comments by name.

But in a tweet later in the day, he said they "hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion," indicating that he may have been referring to Omar and Tlaib, who have recently been embroiled in controversies related to the Jewish state.

All but one of the four women were born in the US. Omar fled war-torn Somalia as a child and came to the United States as a refugee. —AFP