Iraqi forces fighting so-called Islamic State (IS) in Mosul have broken through the front line without suffering any losses, a spokesman says.
Sabah al-Numan told the BBC that many IS fighters had been killed.
Government forces entered the city’s outskirts for the first time on Tuesday since the city was seized in June 2014.
Wednesday is the 17th day of the anti-IS operation, which involves 50,000 personnel including Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Sunni Arab tribesmen.
Elite troops seized control of the state TV building in Kukjali on Tuesday hours after launching an assault on the eastern district and later breached the outskirts of the Karama district.
