In Iraq, breaking a two-week lull in fighting, government troops backed by the US-led coalition's airstrikes and artillery pushed deeper into eastern Mosul today in a multi-pronged assault against Islamic State militants in the city.<br/><br/>Elite special forces pushed into the Karama and Quds neighbourhoods, while army troops and federal police advanced into the nearby Intisar, Salam and Sumor neighborhoods. Columns of dark smoke rose overhead as explosions shook the city and heavy machine gun fire echoed through the streets.<br/><br/>Stiff resistance by the militants, civilians trapped inside their houses and bad weather have slowed advances in the more than two-month-old offensive to recapture Iraq's second largest city, the extremist group's last urban bastion in the country.It is the biggest Iraqi military operation since the 2003 US-led invasion.<br/>