pushing into iraq. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. now, that push to the north, that's actually the closest that the iraqi security forces have gotten to the city of mosul itself. and then you do have these advances on multiple different fronts. in some instances, they're able to push forward faster than others, but the closer, broadly speaking, that these various different groups have gotten to the city of mosul itself, the tougher, as expected, the fight is becoming. not just in terms of the ongoing clashes that exist, but isis, repeatedly using those suicide car bombers, not just launching them at troops as they're advancing, but in some instances, hiding them in these towns, and they be deploying them once troops are busy setting up their defensive positions. and you also have this isis counterattack, that happened in the city of kirkuk. a city that, relatively speaking, has been fairly quiet, away from the bulk of the