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Shiite militias launch operation near Iraq's Mosul

Iraqi Shia militia opened a new front against Daesh terror group west of Mosul, local media reported on Saturday.

Iraq launched a massive operation on October 17 aimed at retaking Mosul, which fell to ISIL in a matter of days in the summer of 2014.

Turkey fears the use of Shia militias in the US-backed offensive on Mosul will lead to sectarian strife in the mainly Sunni region and cause an exodus of refugees.

"A few days or hours separate us from the launch of operations there", spokesman Ahmed Al-Asadi told state TV.

Iraqi and Western military sources say there had been debate about whether or not to seal off Mosul's western flank.

The army and security forces are part of a wider force, which also includes Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias, which are seeking to encircle Mosul and crush Islamic State fighters in the largest city of their self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The government and the PMF say a limited number of violations had occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic.

Numerous militias were originally formed after the 2003 USA -led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of U.

Colville added: "We very much fear that these will not be the last such reports we receive of such barbaric acts by ISIL, and repeat our call on Government forces and their allies to ensure their fighters do not take revenge on any of the civilians who escape from areas under ISIL control, and treat all suspected ISIL fighters they capture in accordance with global humanitarian law".

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance", Iraqi army Maj. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said that the obstructive efforts by infiltrators and ill-wishers would not hamper the strides to recapture Mosul.

Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Erbil, said it is the closest position to any of the fronts surrounding the city, adding that it is "not an easy fight".

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported today (Thursday) that the United Nations said that more than 10,000 people have fled their homes since the beginning of the Mosul offensive.

By the afternoon, Brig. But there was likely still some fighting underway, and he said forces were removing explosive booby-traps left by Islamic State to slow their advance.

Air strikes were continuing in the area on Saturday morning and the sound of artillery could be heard, as well as gunfire.

Soon after the Shiite's announcement, explosions rocked the northwestern Hurriyah area of Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding five.

Shiites make up a majority in Iraq but Sunnis are predominant in the north and the west.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil says vehicle bombers are trying to stop the advance, but that his troops aim to enter Mosul's eastern outskirts today and that they're just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from that position now.

As the Hashed push on Tal Afar got under way, Iraqi forces battled IS in Al-Shura, an area south of Mosul with a long history as a militant bastion that has been the target of fighting for more than a week.

Iraqi paramilitary forces said they had captured several villages southwest of Mosul from the Islamic State group on Sunday, the second day of an operation to cut the jihadists' supply lines.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online. The group is widely believed to be rooting out anyone who could potentially rise up against it, focusing on Iraqis with military training or past links to security forces.

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Shiite militias launch operation near Iraq's Mosul