IRAQ: RESISTANCE...LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

Independent: Governor's office stormed in Basra
The governor's office in the Iraqi city of Basra has been taken over in protest at coalition actions against radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.
About 150 men took over the building in a dawn invasion that met no resistance today. They said they were staging a peaceful sit-in in the country's second city.
The governor, Wael Abdul Latif, fled the building earlier.
Sadr is an outspoken opponent of the US-led occupation and the coalition recently arrested one of his top aides, Sheikh Yakubi, and closed down a newspaper accused of inciting anti-US violence.

Newsday: 9 troops dead in 3 incidents
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Seven U.S. soldiers were killed in clashes yesterday with militiamen loyal to Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Shia slums of Baghdad, military officials said. Al-Sadr's supporters also fought with coalition troops in three southern Iraqi cities, marking a dramatic escalation of violence with Iraq's Shia majority.
In all, nine U.S. troops were killed in fighting yesterday in both Shia and Sunni areas of Iraq.

Boston Globe: U.S. declares radical Shiite cleric an ''outlaw'' after clashes kill dozens; American troops seal of Fallujah
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The top U.S. administrator in Iraq declared a radical Shiite cleric an ''outlaw'' Monday after his supporters rioted in Baghdad and four other cities in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and a Salvadoran soldier.

The fiercest battle took place Sunday in the streets of Sadr City, Baghdad's largest Shiite neighborhood, where black-garbed Shiite militiamen fired from rooftops and behind buildings at U.S. troops, killing seven Americans. At least 30 Iraqis were killed and more than 110 wounded in the fighting, doctors said.