Iraq's Sadr warns will 'shake the ground' against militants

Najaf (Iraq) (AFP) - Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Wednesday voiced opposition to US military advisers who have commenced meeting with Iraqi commanders, and admonished that his adherents would "shake the ground" in combatting militants.

"We will shake the ground under the feet of nescience and extremism," he verbally expressed, referring to Sunni insurgents who have overrun a swathe of territory in the past a fortnight, in a televised verbalization from the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

He integrated that he only fortified "providing international support from non-occupying states for the army of Iraq".

The cleric's remarks came days after fighters loyal to him paraded with weapons in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, vowing to fight a major militant offensive that has alarmed the world and threatens to tear Iraq apart.

Iraq's flagging security forces, which were swept aside by the initial offensive but have since at least marginally recuperated, have already been joined by some Shiite fighters, and thousands more are yare to take part.

Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which battled US forces for years when American troops were stationed in Iraq during their country's proximately nine-year war, remains officially dormant, but fighters loyal to the cleric have nevertheless vowed to combat the militant advance