President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of 350 more US troops to Iraq, despite the presence of thousands of American troops in the country.

President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of 350 more US troops to Iraq, despite the presence of thousands of American troops in the country.

"The president authorized the Department of Defense to fulfill a Department of State request for approximately 350 additional US military personnel to protect our diplomatic facilities and personnel in Baghdad, Iraq," a White House statement said on Tuesday.

"We will (also) continue to support the government of Iraq's efforts to counter ISIL, which poses a threat not only to Iraq, but to the broader Middle East and US personnel and interests in the region," it added.

The United States has currently more than 7,000 military and security forces in the country, mostly located in a military base in Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The announcement was made hours after a video emerged showing the ISIL terrorist group beheading an American journalist, the second beheading in two weeks by the militants.  

On Tuesday, ISIL released the video of the decapitation of Steven Sotloff, who disappeared in Syria in 2013. In a message, the journalist said that he is "paying the price" for US military intervention.