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WASHINGTON (AP) — With Baghdad threatened by the advance of an al-Qaida-inspired insurgency, the State Department is reinforcing security at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq's capital — and sending some personnel out of town.

Much of the embassy staff will stay in place, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement released Sunday. The statement did not say the number of personnel affected. The embassy, along the Tigris River in Baghdad's Green Zone, has about 5,0000 personnel and is the largest U.S. diplomatic post in the world.

Some embassy staff members were being temporarily moved elsewhere to more stable places at consulates in Basra, in the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq, and Irbil, in the Kurdish semi-autonomous region in northeastern Iraq, and to Jordan, she said.

"Overall, a substantial majority of the U.S. Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission," she said.

U.S. travelers in the country were encouraged to exercise caution and limit travel to certain parts of Iraq.

"Due to the relocation of personnel from Baghdad, the embassy will only be restricted in its ability to offer all consular services; but emergency services are always available to U.S. citizens in need at any embassy or consulate anywhere in the world," Psaki said.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement that a "small number" of military personnel are helping to keep State Department facilities in Baghdad safe. He said embassy personnel are being moved by commercial, charter and State Department aircraft, adding that the U.S. military has "airlift assets at the ready" should the State Department request them.

A U.S. military official said about 100 Marines and Army soldiers have been sent to Baghdad to help with embassy security.

The State Department acted as the Iraqi government sought to bolster its defenses in Baghdad on Sunday. Despite the added security, a string of explosions killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30 in the city, police and hospital officials said. The militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, posted graphic photos that appeared to show its fighters massacring dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers.

Psaki said the State Department could not confirm the reports, but "we condemn these tactics in the strongest possible terms and stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people against these horrendous and senseless acts of violence."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation Sunday by National Security Adviser Susan Rice as he was spending Father's Day in Rancho Mirage, California.

Secretary of State John Kerry made calls to foreign ministers in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to discuss the threat and the need for Iraqi leaders to work together.

ISIL surprised Western intelligence organizations last week and took control at least two major Iraqi cities.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the USS George H.W. Bush from the northern Arabian Sea and it has arrived in the Persian Gulf as the president considers possible military options for Iraq. Kirby said the move will give Obama additional flexibility if military action were required to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq.

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Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler in Rancho Mirage, California, and Lolita Baldor and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling

BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants captured the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar early on Monday, its mayor and residents said, the latest blow to the nation's Shiite-led government a week after it lost a vast swath of territory in the country's north.

The town, with a population of some 200,000 people, mostly ethnic Shiite and Sunni Turkomen, was taken just before dawn, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told The Associated Press.

The ethnic mix of Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, raises the grim specter of large-scale atrocities by Sunni militants of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, who already claim to have killed hundreds of Shiites in areas they captured last week.

A Tal Afar resident reached by phone confirmed the town's fall and said militants in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns and flying black jihadi banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.

The local security force left the town before dawn, said Hadeer al-Abadi, who spoke to the AP as he prepared to head out of town with his family. Local tribesmen who continued to fight later surrendered to the militants, he said.

"Residents are gripped by fear and most of them have already left the town to areas held by Kurdish security forces," said al-Abadi.

The fall of Tal Afar comes a week after Sunni militants captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in a lightening offensive.

Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with Iraqi government officials saying that ISIL fighters were firing rockets seized from military arms depots they captured in the Mosul area. They said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded, without providing exact numbers.

Over the weekend, militants posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers. The pictures, on a militant website, appear to show masked ISIL fighters loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — Wrapping up a weekend away with his family, President Barack Obama was returning to Washington Monday faced with an impending choice on how to act to stop violent insurgents bringing chaos to Iraq.

The White House said Obama got several updates on the crisis in phone calls from National Security Adviser Susan Rice during his weekend stay with his wife, daughter Malia and friends in the Palm Springs area. Obama said as he left for the trip Friday that he told his national security team to come up with options for U.S. assistance to deal with the worst instability in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Rice's telephone briefings included updates on developments in Iraq, options being discussed for action and the movement of some staff out of the embassy in Baghdad amid the threat posed by the al-Qaida inspired insurgency. The calls came amid Obama's trip to Orange County Saturday to raise money and deliver a commencement address at the University of California, Irvine, plus rounds of golf back in the desert resort town of Rancho Mirage.

Obama golfed with aides Sunday at Porcupine Creek, a course owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison. Saturday gave him a chance to return to the Sunnylands estate where he's visited three times in the past year. Obama stayed at Sunnylands in two previous visits to the area, but this time was hosted by White House decorator Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, the American ambassador to Spain.

Obama said Friday that he would take several days to review a wide range of options for action in Iraq, although he ruled out the possibility of sending in American ground troops. Administration officials said other options being weighed include strikes using drones or manned aircraft, as well as boosts in surveillance and intelligence gathering, including satellite coverage and other monitoring efforts.

Obama said the violence "should be a wake-up call" to the Iraqi government to improve sectarian relations and improve its security force. "We can't do it for them. And in the absence of this type of political effort, short-term military action, including any assistance we might provide, won't succeed," Obama said.

Iraqi leaders have been pleading with the U.S. for additional help to combat the insurgency for more than a year. While the U.S. has sold Iraq military equipment, the Obama administration has resisted drone strikes.

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Follow Pickler at http://twitter.com/nedrapickler

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