Advancing Iraqi troops broke through Islamic State defences in an eastern suburb of Mosul on Monday, advancing to within a few hundred metres of a city they lost to the militant group two years back, a report said.

Forces from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) faced mortar fire as they pushed towards Mosul's eastern suburbs, the Times of India report added, citing AFP.

The CTS had recaptured Bazwaya, one of two IS-held villages that had been standing between Iraqi forces and the eastern edges of Mosul, Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar Salem was quoted as saying in the report.

"Tonight, if everything is secured, we will be 700 metres from Mosul," Salem said.