The final battle to recapture Falluja, Islamic State's stronghold near Baghdad, will start in ''days, not weeks'', the leader of one of the largest Shi'ite militias taking part in the operation alongside the Iraqi army said on Friday.

 

The first phase of the offensive that started on Monday is nearly finished, with the complete encirclement of the city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of the capital, said Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization.

 

Amiri, in military fatigues, spoke to state-TV from the operations area with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi standing by his side, wearing the black uniform of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism force.

 

Amiri earlier this week said the Shi'ite paramilitary coalition known as Popular Mobilization will only take part in the encirclement operations, and let the army storm the city, a historic bastion of Sunni Muslim insurgency.

 

Popular Mobilization would only go in the city if the army's attack fails, he said.

 

The United Nations says about 50,000 civilians are estimated to be in Falluja which, in January 2014, became the first Iraqi city to be captured by Islamic State, six months before the group declared its caliphate.

 

Falluja's population was six times bigger before the war.