Iraqi special forces have entered the outskirts of Mosul, taking the state television building and advancing despite fierce resistance by Islamic State (IS) fighters who hold the city.

A suicide car bomber today exploded his vehicle alongside a bus carrying Kurdish peshmerga militiamen in Mosul, killing at least seven and injuring eight, a Kurdish official said.

INTERNATIONAL inspectors arrived at one of Saddam Hussein’s presidential palaces yesterday and demanded and received quick entry, in an early test of new powers to hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.