Roundup: 5,000 Shiite soldiers join Iraq's Mosul offensive, bombs rock Baghdad

Some estimated 5,000 Shiite soldiers on Sunday joined Iraqi government's offensive to combat the Islamic State (IS) around the group's stronghold of Mosul city.

Meanwhile, bombs rocked the capital city of Baghdad and claimed lives.

A Shiite militia spokesman representing the Hezbollah Brigades said that the fighters managed to encircle Mosul from the west.

Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces in the city abandoned their weapons and fled.

The Iraqi military confirmed the Shiite figures, which would bring the total number of anti-IS forces in the ongoing battle to over 40,000.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing for a major battle to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

Also on Sunday, the Iraqi security forces retook control of 11 villages from the IS around Mosul, a security source told Xinhua.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces also freed the villages of Kanona and Rozbian near the IS-held town of Bashiqah, some 20 km northeast of Mosul, a Kurdish source told Xinhua.

The paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi continued their operation to advance in the vast rugged land in southwest of Mosul toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, according to a statement by the Hashd Shaabi's media office.

The operation of the pre-dominantly Shiite paramilitary units was designed to cut off the supply lines between Mosul and neighboring Syria, but such advance in the ethnically mixed region where Sunni Muslims form a majority could spark sectarian tension with Sunni Arabs and neighboring Sunni state of Turkey.

Separately, Iraqi army forces freed the village of Ali Rash, some 20 km east of Mosul, and raised the Iraqi flag on its buildings after driving out the IS militants, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military estimated that the IS has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters inside Mosul and another 1,500-2,500 in the city's outer defensive belt. The total number includes around 1,000 foreign fighters.

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

A police resource told Xinhua that during one blast, the attackers detonated a parked car bomb near a school when people passed by. No personnel or groups have claimed responsibility yet.

Iraqi government troops and Kurdish militias have launched an attack against the IS to retake Mosul since Oct. 17. In response, the latter has stepped up its attacks around Iraq in retaliation for the Mosul offensive. Endi