Iraqi Special Forces recaptured more districts of eastern Mosul on Sunday, expanding the army's foothold in ISIL's stronghold. They achieved this despite fierce resistance, including suicide attacks. CCTV's Jack Barton has this report from Fazlia, near Mosul.

Iraqi Special Forces advanced deeper into the Intisar neighborhood, a heavily contested area in Mosul's east. They're now backed by Iraq's 9th armored division, which had been fighting its way in from the south.

Commander with the ninth division, Minem Hassan, said, "We are in Mosul. Our spirit is very high. God willing, only a few areas remain. Today we will give the Iraqi people some good news."

For many Iraqis who've been living under ISIL, or Daesh as its known here, seeing the army in their streets was good news enough.

Sabiha Aziz, a resident of Mosul, said, "May God make you victorious. May you be able to kill Daesh and take your revenge on them, they starved us. We are now free."

The territory recaptured by government forces still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city.

"Heavy street fighting raged throughout the day between the Iraqi security forces and ISIL, who fired mortars from their positions in Mosul's east, while the Iraqi military fired back with heavy artillery located outside the city," said Jack Barton.

Iraq's prime minister flew in to Bartella, just outside of Mosul, with a message that he believes the battle will be swift. Some say that may be optimistic and even though ISIL is losing ground militarily it once again demonstrated it can carry out devastating terror attacks across the country. On Sunday, ISIL suicide bombers killed more than twenty people in Samarra and Tikrit attacking gridlocked checkpoints in ambulances packed with explosives.