Baghdad, August 11 (RHC)-- The United States says it has carried out a fresh round of airstrikes against the positions of the ISIL Takfiri militants in Iraq. The U.S. Central Command said its fighter jets along with unmanned drones hit and destroyed armed vehicles and a mortar position belonging to the terrorists near the northern city of Erbil and Mosul On Sunday.

The fourth round of airstrikes took place as the Kurdish Peshmarga fighters are engaged in fierce fighting with the insurgents. The U.S. has stationed a big bastion of military personnel in the northern city of Mosul.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has evacuated a number of its staff from the Kurdish city of Erbil out of "an abundance of caution" as the militants have been trying to approach the city.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Washington "temporarily relocated a limited number of staff from Consulate Erbil to our consulate in Basra in southern Iraq and to the Iraq support unit in Amman" due to “the security situation in Iraq."

Washington started the airstrikes in northern Iraq after Obama authorized them after the militants came within striking distance of Erbil. The United States claims the strikes are aimed at helping Baghdad tackle the threat of Takfiri terrorists. Some political analysts, however, say Washington plans to disintegrate Iraq.