11.   The services are controversial because of fears that having armed mercenaries aboard could escalate the violence.

12.   Their numbers increased as Slobodan Milosevic escalated the violence in recent months.

13.   Opposition groups had threatened to escalate the violence if Qambar was killed.

14.   Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary, said the Israeli strikes would only escalate violence.

15.   Authorities blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which vowed to escalate violence after their leader Abdullah Ocalan was condemned to death by a Turkish court last week.

16.   But Israel vehemently opposes international observers, warning they could escalate violence and create long-term instability.

17.   Casualties have increased sharply on both sides through two weeks of rapidly escalating violence.

18.   Escalating violence could prompt thousands of Colombians to seek refuge in neighboring Venezuela, said Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel.

19.   Government officials often refuse to discuss the ethnic or religious divisions contributing to the frequent clashes in Nigeria, fearing that doing so could escalate the violence.

20.   He accused Pakistan of supporting the militants and of trying to escalate the violence.