Bloomberg News reports that Iraqis loyal to anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Monday occupied the office of CPA head Paul Bremer in the southern city of Basra, which is controlled by British troops. There were no reports of any casualties.

The Guardian reports that Monday Mr. Bremer said he would not allow the followers of Mr. Sadr to place themselves "outside the legal authorities." Bremer also called Sadr an "outlaw" for his actions. Monday a coalition spokesman said an Iraqi judge had issued a warrant for Sadr's arrest on murder charges. US spokesman Dan Senor said the murder warrant was issued "in the last several months." But he wouldn't say when the arrest would take place, saying only that there would be no advance warning.

The Boston Globe reports that Sadr, who is younger and more radical than senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (but not as popular), organized his mostly poor, urban followers last week after occupation authorities shut down his newspaper, accusing it of inciting violence. Then, on Saturday, coalition forces detained an aide to Sadr.

The Washington Post reports that actions by Sadr and his followers have realized "the greatest fear" of the US and its allies in Iraq since they took power a year ago: a Shiite Muslim uprising.

The unrest signaled that the US military faces armed opposition on two fronts: in scarred Sunni towns such as Fallujah and, as of Sunday, in a Shiite-dominated region of the country that had remained largely acquiescent, if uneasy about the US role. If put down forcefully, a Shiite uprising – infused with religious imagery, and symbols drawn from Iraq's colonial past and the current Palestinian conflict – could achieve a momentum of its own.

The Washington Post also reports that US forces sealed off the volatile Sunni-dominated Iraqi city of Fallujah Monday morning. The action came in advance of what a US spokesman called an "extended operation," code named 'Vigilant Resolve.' Military authority have said they would move against Sunni insurgents who killed and mutilated four US contractors last week. Two battalions of Iraqi troops and 1,200 US Marines were poised outside the city. The BBC says that unconfirmed reports from the area say several people were killed when a US warplane dropped bombs on a residential area of the town after a mortar attack on troops.