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BARTELLA, Iraq — Iraqi special forces charged into the Mosul battle on Thursday with a pre-dawn advance on a nearby town held by the Islamic State group, a key part of a multipronged assault on eastern approaches to the besieged city.
The addition of the elite troops, also known as counterterrorism forces, marked a significant intensification of the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city. As they advanced, attack helicopters fired on the militants and heavy gunfire echoed across the plains.
Militants unleashed nine suicide car and truck bombs against the advancing troops, eight of which were destroyed before reaching their targets, while the ninth struck an armored Humvee, Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar al-Shimmari said.
He did not give a casualty figure, but another officer said five soldiers were wounded. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.
The special forces entered the town of Bartella, a traditionally Christian village that fell to the Islamic State in 2014, around midday. The fighting thus far has been concentrated in a cluster of towns and villages outside Mosul that are mostly uninhabited and littered with roadside bombs planted by the militants, which has slowed the Iraqi advance.
Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati said the special forces retook Bartella, about nine miles from the edge of Mosul. But Iraqi forces were facing stiff resistance there.
The special forces are expected to lead the way into Mosul, where they will face fierce resistance in an urban landscape where militants are preparing for a climactic battle. The offensive is the largest operation launched by Iraqi forces since the 2003 US-led invasion. It is expected to take weeks, if not months.
The Kurdish forces known as peshmerga announced a ‘‘large-scale operation’’ to the north and northeast of Mosul.
‘‘The operation will be in three fronts,’’ the peshmerga said in a statement. The move follows gains by the Kurds to the east of Mosul and Iraqi security forces to the south.
Peshmerga forces stationed on mountains northeast of Mosul descended from their positions and charged toward the front line.
They used bulldozers and other heavy equipment to fill trenches and moved armored vehicles into the breach after about an hour of mortar and gunfire at Islamic State positions in the village of Barima.
Military operations also appeared to be underway in the town of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul. Thick smoke could be seen from the town early Thursday. A day earlier, Bashiqa was pounded by airstrikes and mortar fire.
The US military, meanwhile, said an American soldier died on Thursday from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb explosion in northern Iraq. It did not say where the blast took place or if the soldier was involved in the Mosul offensive. It also did not identify the soldier. The death was the Americans’ first since the Mosul operation began Monday.
More than 100 US special forces are embedded with Iraqi troops and hundreds more are supporting the offensive from staging bases.
Major General Gary Volesky, the top commander of American land forces in Iraq, said Wednesday that US Army Apache attack helicopters were striking targets in support of the operation. The deployment of such helicopters adds risk for American troops.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, speaking by video link to diplomats meeting in Paris, said the Mosul offensive was moving ‘‘more quickly than we thought.’’
He vowed to protect civilians fleeing the fighting.
The Islamic State group captured Mosul and the surrounding area during a lightning advance across northern Iraq in 2014.
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