The White House denied on Monday the saying by NBC, a major television network in the United States, that Iraq has fallen into a civil war.

The situation in Iraq is serious, but neither U.S. President George W. Bush nor Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki believe Iraq conflict is a civil war, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

In its news program on Monday, NBC, sharing a popular viewpoint, branded the Iraq conflict a civil war.

Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday that civil war was looming in Iraq and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Monday that Iraq was nearly in civil war.

Iraq has been troubled with growing violence for months. But the Bush administration is reluctant to say that the war-torn country is in civil war.

Sectarian violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq has increased dramatically in the past week. Multiple bombings in a Shi'ite neighborhood of Baghdad last Thursday killed more than 200 people and drew reprisal attacks in Sunni neighborhoods.

Editor: Donald