Sunni Arab leader says 1,700 killed since bombing of mosque.

A Sunni Arab leader said on Thursday more than 1,700 Sunnis had been killed in Iraq's sectarian bloodshed since a major Shi'ite mosque was bombed a month ago, but it was unclear how he arrived at the figure.

The spiralling violence between Shi'ites and minority Sunnis, with death squads and militias leaving scores of horribly mutilated corpses in the streets every day, has stoked fears of an all-out sectarian civil war.

If it walks like a civil war and quacks like a civil war, it's a civil war!