IRAQI troops advanced to within a mile of the Islamic State (Isis)-occupied city of Mosul yesterday amid fierce fighting.

Armoured vehicles came under heavy mortar and small-arms fire as the elite counterterrorism forces moved on the village of Bazwaya in the dawn assault, while artillery and air strikes hit Isis positions.

Some Bazwaya residents hung white flags on buildings and from windows to show they would not resist the government troops, said Major Salam al-Obeidi.

He said troops asked villagers to stay indoors as Iraqi forces made their way through the streets as a precaution against potential suicide bombers.

By evening the fighting was over and the units took up positions less than a mile from Mosul’s eastern edge and some five miles from the city centre.

Three suicide car bombers tried to halt the advance during the day before the army took control of the town but the troops destroyed them, said Brigadier General Haider Fadhil.

The army said another unit, its ninth division, had moved up toward Mosul and was now about three miles from its eastern outskirts in the Gogjali district.

At one point, a Humvee military vehicle packed with explosives raced out, but Iraqi troops opened fire on it, setting off the charge and blowing up the vehicle.

Shi’ite militias freed 14 villages to the south-west of the city yesterday, adding to 13 the day before.

Their objective is the town of Tel Afar, to the west — its capture would cut off the Isis supply and escape route to its strongholds in Syria.

Thousands of volunteers flocked to join the militias on Sunday. In apparent retaliation, suicide bombers struck five predominately Shi’ite districts of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced yesterday that he would be visiting troops near the front line.

The US military estimates Isis has 3,000 to 5,000 terrorists inside Mosul and another 1,500-2,500 zealots in the city’s outer defensive belt. The total includes about 1,000 foreign recruits, though Iraqi sources estimate that some 5,000 jihadists have come to Iraq from Western nations.