Updated on Sunday, April 09, 2006, 00:00 IST

Riyadh, Apr 09: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said today that the violence in Iraq could only be described as a civil war and Arab states should try to bring Iraqis together to stop the strife.

"The definition of civil war is that the people (of a country) are fighting each other ... I don't know what we can call (what is happening) in Iraq except a civil war," he told reporters.

Prince Saud's remarks came a day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that Iraq was in the throes of a civil war that threatened the Middle East, comments that sparked anger in Iraq and Iran.

"This what we hope to overcome by having an effort undertaken by the Arab League to bring Iraqi sides together in the hope of halting this war, which can only bring calamities to the Iraqi people and disaster for the region," Prince Saud said.

But only "Iraqis themselves can stop this fighting," he added during the joint news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos who is accompanying the King of Spain on a visit to Saudi Arabia.

A wave of sectarian violence pitting Sunni Muslims against Shiites has left hundreds dead in Iraq since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, on February 22.

Mubarak, however, infuriated both Iraq and Shiite-dominated Iran by claiming that Shiites in Arab countries were mostly loyal to Tehran, not their own countries.

Bureau Report