US-backed Iraqi forces fought their way inside two villages on Monday as they crept closer to Mosul.

ISIS militants have placed several mines over bridges and main roads in the eastern part of Mosul and have called for reinforcements from Raqqa, several media reports have suggested.

US-backed Iraqi forces fought their way inside two villages on Monday as they crept closer to Mosul a week into an offensive to retake the ISIS-held city, but they also faced questions over a suspected airstrike on a mosque that killed 13 people.

Until now, most of the fighting has been in largely uninhabited towns and villages, but Iraqi special forces found more than 70 civilians sheltering in Tob Zawa.

They will encounter many more civilians as they get closer to Mosul, still home to more than one million people.

ISIS has suffered a series of setbacks in the past year, and Mosul is its last major urban bastion in Iraq.

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