Iraq's Sadr vows to 'shake the ground' against militants

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has vowed to "shake the ground" under the feet of advancing Sunni militants, as Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki warned rivals against exploiting the crisis to sideline him.

Sadr, whose movement long battled U.S. forces during Washington's nearly nine-year war in Iraq, also voiced opposition June 25 to American military advisers meeting with Iraqi commanders.

Iraq is combatting an offensive by the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that has overrun swathes of five provinces, killed nearly 1,100 people, displaced hundreds of thousands and threatens to tear the country apart.,

U.S. President Barack Obama has so far refrained from carrying out air strikes on the insurgents, as urged by Maliki, but American military advisers began meeting Iraqi commanders June, with Washington having offered up to 300.

Sadr's remarks came as security forces continued to repel assaults on critical towns and infrastructure, though ISIL's offensive was bolstered when fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise made a local alliance with it.

"We will shake the ground under the feet of ignorance and extremism," Sadr said in a televised speech from the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

He added that he was only in favour of "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 the militant offensive.

raq's flagging security forces were swept aside by the initial jihadist push, but have since at least somewhat recovered - and while Sadr's Mahdi Army militia remains officially inactive, fighters loyal to...