Conditions that could lead to a civil war exist in Iraq, the Pentagon said in a new report on Friday, as the "core conflict" has changed into one pitting Sunni Muslims against Shias, with the Sunni Arab insurgency overshadowed.
The Pentagon's congressionally mandated report provided a sober assessment of the situation in Iraq over the past three months, saying attacks increased by 15 percent over the prior three months and casualties among Iraqis surged 51 percent.
"Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq," the report stated, adding that concern about civil war has increased within the Iraqi civilian population.
"Nevertheless, the current violence is not a civil war, and movement toward a civil war can be prevented," added the report, which said the security environment was at its most complex state since the US-led invasion in March 2003 that toppled President Saddam Hussein.
Rising sectarian fighting between minority Sunnis, who controlled Iraq under Saddam, and the majority Shias, who are ascending in power after decades of oppression, defines the emerging nature of violence in Iraq, the report stated.
The release of the report comes as the Bush administration pursues a campaign to bolster sagging US public support, with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others attacking critics two months before US congressional elections.