Robert Mugabe says his staunchest supporters are ready to take up arms rather than let the opposition win Zimbabwe's presidential run-off vote.
The threat of war was raised during an address to supporters of his ruling Zanu-PF party in Harare.
Mr Mugabe, 84, said veterans of the 1970s liberation war were ready for battle once more to stop Morgan Tsvangirai - leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - taking power.
He insisted he did not want a return to violence but repeatedly raised the threat of conflict and warned voters against making a "mistake".
Mr Mugabe said a delegation of war veterans had approached him after the first round of elections on March 29 when Tsvangirai fell just short of a winning majority.
"They came to my office after the elections and asked me: 'Can we take up arms?'," he said.
"They said this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let it go at the stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the country goes just like that?"
Mr Mugabe also said a victory for Mr Tsvangirai victory in the June 27 vote would spark a new conflict.
"Would you want to vote to go back to war, to fight for the country which we liberated?"
Mr Tsvangirai has been detained three times while campaigning and the MDC's secretary-general Tendai Biti is in custody.
Police say he will be charged with treason in connection with an alleged plot to rig victory for the MDC in the first elections and for pre-emptively announcing the results.
Meanwhile, two MDC campaign buses used to ferry Mr Tsvangirai and his entourage around the country have been seized.
Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the move was a blatant attempt "to cripple the MDC campaign".
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>They said this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let it go at the stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the country goes just like that?"