The Mehdi Army, "a fighting force loyal" to Moqtada al-Sadr, was estimated in 2004 to "have between 3,000 and 10,000 men, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and light weapons." According to U.S. officials, "the emergence of such independent armed groups threaten[ed] the coalition forces now occupying the country" as well as the Iraqi government that was "set to take power" on June 30, 2004. "U.S. officials have vowed to 'destroy' the Mahdi army."