Baghdad, Iraq ? Two of Iraq’s most prominent Shiite and Sunni Muslim leaders blamed each other for sponsoring terrorism in a heated television exchange Wednesday that many Iraqis interpreted as a call to arms edging the nation closer to civil war.

The name-calling between Harith al-Dhari, the leader of the Muslim Scholars Assn., an influential group of militant Sunni clerics, and Hadi al-Amri, the commander of Iraq’s largest Shiite militia, represented the most brazenly sectarian — and first public — war of words for men of their prominence. Each commands thousands of followers, many of whom saw the accusations on the Al-Arabiya satellite channel as a sign that Iraq’s sectarian tensions had reached the boiling point.

“It’s definitely one step closer toward a sectarian war,” said Hazem al-Nuaimi, an independent political analyst in Baghdad. “People living with sectarian tensions … are affected greatly by such (outbursts) and they will definitely be ready to take up arms against one another. They will not think about their best interests.”

A senior cleric from al-Dhari’s group was found dead Tuesday in Baghdad, the latest in a string of assassinations of Sunni and Shiite clerics. Outraged Sunni groups called for a three-day closure of mosques throughout Iraq in protest.

“The parties that are behind the campaign of killings of preachers and worshippers are … the Badr Brigade,” al-Dhari said, pointing angrily during a news conference broadcast on TV. “Badr forces are responsible for the escalating tensions.”

Al-Amri leads the Iran-trained Badr Brigade, formerly the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the backbone of the Shiite coalition that swept into power in January’s parliamentary elections. Many Sunnis resent the Badr forces because they fought with Iran against Iraqis during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

Immediately after al-Dhari’s accusations aired, Al-Arabiya broadcast a live telephone interview in which an emotional al-Amri denied the charges. The militia leader swatted back with claims that al-Dhari and his son, Muthanna, support the al-Qaida-allied terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

“(He) considers Zarqawi’s terrorist and criminal operations as legal and justified,” al-Amri said. “He said they’re ready to stop these terrorist operations if there’s a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops in Iraq. This indicates that they stand behind these terrorist operations, in which Iraq’s Shiites were the first victims.”