MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi special forces pushed forward to reach a second bridge that links eastern Mosul to the city's west, which is still fully controlled by ISIS, a military statement said Friday.

Troops further north, meanwhile, entered the Mosul University complex in the northeast, a Reuters reporter said. Its capture would help parallel advances towards bridges over the Tigris river.

Elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units reached the southern 2nd Bridge, also called Freedom Bridge, one of five running across the river that bisects Mosul from north to south, the military statement reported by state TV said.

Iraqi forces, who are fighting in eastern Mosul, have now reached two of the bridges, and battled their way to the southernmost 4th Bridge several days ago.

All the bridges have been hit by U.S. coalition airstrikes in an effort to hamper ISIS militants' movement across the city. U.S. and Iraqi military officials say ISIS has caused further damage to at least two of them to try to hamper any Iraqi advance across the river.

Iraqi forces are now in control of most of eastern Mosul. Assaults on the west will be able to begin once they have secured the east bank of the Tigris.

In Mosul's northeast, CTS forces fought their way into the Mosul University area and were near the technical college on the eastern side of the campus, a Reuters reporter at the front lines said.

An Iraqi officer said army units backed by airstrikes had also taken control of Hadba district, north of the university, and would aid the assault on the complex.

The recapture of the university would be an important gain because it would enable further advances as it overlooks areas closer to the river, a commander said this week.

The ultra-hardline group seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from the university when they overran it in 2014, the United Nations says.

The U.S.-backed campaign to drive ISIS out of Mosul, involving a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi'ite militias, began in October.

Mosul's recapture will probably spell the end of the Iraqi side of its self-style caliphate, which the group declared in 2014 in vast areas spanning northern Iraq and eastern Syria.