In Iraq, the U.S. has lost control of portions of East Baghdad known as Sadr City where followers of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have seized control and set up checkpoints to help keep out the U.S. This comes as Sadr is calling on his supporters to increase their resistance to the US occupation. A chief aide of Sadr told Reuters, “We have now entered a second phase of resistance. Our policy now is to extend the state of resistance and to move it to all of Iraq because of the occupiers’ military escalation and crossing of all red lines in the holy cities of Kerbala and Najaf.” The US has killed dozens of Shiites over the past few days in East Baghdad, Kut and Kufa. On Monday, the U.S. used tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and two Apache attack helicopters to destroy Sadr’s office in Baghdad. Meanwhile Sadr faces resistance from within the Shiite community. The Los Angeles Times reports another senior Shiite leader, Sadruddin Qubanchi, allied with the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, has called for a mass demonstration Friday in Najaf to expel Sadr’s private army from the holy city.