The Iraqi army said it took full control of two more districts of east Mosul on Saturday, pushing back Islamic State militants in a slow and hard-fought advance into the city whose 1 million residents face growing shortages of fuel, water and food.

A military statement said elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) troops took over the neighbourhoods of al-Murour and al-Qadisiya al-Oula, expanding their area of control in the east of the city.

Despite the reported advance, the army’s progress in Mosul remains painstakingly slow, facing brutal counter attacks from the hugely outnumbered but well prepared and heavily armed jihadists who have controlled the city since mid-2104.

In an attempt to change the dynamics of the grinding seven-week campaign, troops from an armoured division punched their way deeper into the city on Tuesday in an attack on a hospital believed to be used as a military base by Islamic State.

Displaced Iraqi children, who fled the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, carry their belongings at Khazer camp, Iraq. (Photo: Reuters)

They were forced to withdraw from the complex after a ferocious counter-attack by Islamic State fighters, who deployed at least six suicide car bombs, although residents said the army was able to hold some territory nearby.

The CTS, which has spearheaded the fighting in Mosul since it broke through Islamic State defences in the eastern outskirts in late October, controls half of the eastern bank of the city which is split by the Tigris running through its centre.

Sabah al-Numani, spokesman for the CTS forces, told Iraqi television they had reached within 3 or 4 km of the Tigris, and hoped to take the remaining districts of the east bank “with the same speed” they had achieved so far.

That would imply full control of the eastern half of the city would not be accomplished before late January, missing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s target of recapturing the whole city by the end of the year.

Iraqi commanders have talked about relieving pressure on CTS troops in the east by opening a new front in southwest Mosul, where federal police units are stationed just outside the city.

However, officers say three brigades from the police forces were being moved from south of Mosul towards the east bank, so they could directly reinforce the offensive there.

They were expected to arrive on Saturday (local time), an army officer said, and would be tasked with driving Islamic State out the Wahda neighbourhood where the Salam hospital – the target of Tuesday’s assault – is located.

– Reuters