Even as US-led forces in Iraq made progress against loyalists of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr over the weekend, the insurgency spread from the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala to British-controlled cities of Basra and Amarah in the south.

Analysts say the escalation is evidence that coalition military efforts are squeezing Sadr's Mahdi army, forcing them to fight elsewhere. But at the same time, Sadr - whom the US has vowed to "capture or kill" - is capitalizing on the horror over the Iraq prison scandal to broaden his appeal.

"The wild card is the reports of [American] torture and humiliation," says Amatzia Baram, an Iraq expert at the US Institute of Peace in Washington. "Until that came out, [Sadr] was definitely on the decline. Now he is championing the case of the prisoners.

Moderate and far higher-ranking Shiite clerics have indirectly denounced the anti-American Sadr and his methods, and in Najaf on Friday, one prayer leader asked that he and his militia leave the city altogether.

But Sadr countered with his own firebrand sermon at his home mosque in Kufa, where he rallied his thousands-strong Mahdi army with anti-US vitriol. "What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners?" Sadr asked.

Sunday in the Shiite slums of Baghdad - after US troops mounted an overnight raid to arrest three Sadr aides - the Mahdi army used loudspeakers to warn residents that US forces would be attacked if they came into the district.

"If Sadr dies, there will be 1,000 more Sadrs to take his place," says a Mahdi militiaman. "It's become the Iraqi people's war."

Some 2,500 American troops has tightened the noose around Sadr since launching an offensive last Tuesday that has drawn Sadr fighters away from areas deemed holy by Shiite Muslims.

Sadr supporters opened new fronts against British forces over the weekend, to try to take over parts of Basra and Amarah. Sunday in Amarah, British troops reportedly responded to mortar strikes with helicopters. Those attacks came a day after a Sadr chief said jihad was required to avenge tortured detainees. A reward of $350 was offered for the capture of a British soldier; $150 for killing one.

"There is some pressure on Sadr in Najaf; maybe he's flexing his muscle elsewhere," says Hamid al-Bayati, Iraq's deputy foreign minister, who belongs to a moderate Shiite group. "It's difficult to know who can really influence him."

"The future depends on how we defuse this," says Dr. Bayati. If US forces "go in to capture or kill [Sadr], it will get worse."

US authorities in Iraq have issued an arrest warrant for Sadr, whom they charge with involvement in the murder of a rival pro-US cleric 13 months ago.

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