Story highlights Hundreds of ISIS militants reportedly killed during Iraqi-led advance

Spokesman: Suspected chemical substances and "bomb factory" found at Mosul University

(CNN) Iraqi-led forces trying to retake Mosul from ISIS have made significant gains after seizing the city's university, a government complex and parts of the east bank of the Tigris River, Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi of the Iraqi counterterrorism forces said Saturday.

Hundreds of ISIS militants were reportedly killed during Friday's advance, which came as Iraqi counterterrorism forces also announced that troops had made it Mosul's Second Bridge on the river's east bank

Counterterror forces this week reached the east bank of the Tigris for the first time since the large-scale military operation to reclaim Mosul began in October. ISIS seized control of the city, now its last major stronghold in Iraq, in 2014.

The latest phase in the bid to retake Mosul has advanced more quickly than expected, partly because thousands of Iraqi federal police joined coalition troops that included the Iraqi army, counterterror forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite-led paramilitaries.

The new government complex in eastern Mosul as well as several Mosul University buildings had at one time been a headquarters and killing ground for ISIS fighters.

Read More