Washington ( CNN ) -- U.S. airstrikes have killed two top-level and one mid-level ISIS leader , a senior U.S. military official tells CNN . Haji Mutazz was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 's deputy in Iraq ; Abd al Basit was his military emir in Iraq ; and Radwan Talib was his Mosul emir . Their deaths resulted from multiple strikes going back to mid-November -- it has taken until now to determine conclusively they were killed . Obama says U.S. 'hammering ' ISIS . `` I can confirm that since mid-November , targeted coalition airstrikes successfully killed multiple senior and mid-level leaders within the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , '' said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby , in a statement on Thursday . `` We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL 's ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces , including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq , '' he said . News of the killings was first disclosed by Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey in an interview with the Wall Street Journal . Everything to know about the rise of ISIS . In addition , President Barack Obama signed deployment orders yesterday for 1,300 troops to Iraq . This is the lion 's share of the 1,500 additional troops he authorized last month . By February , the U.S. will have roughly 3,000 U.S. troops on the ground . The U.S. troops are also going further afield than they previously were : There are now nearly 300 U.S. forces at Al Asad base in Anbar province , up from just 50 earlier this month . The U.S. military is following through on announced plans to deploy these military advisers and trainers outside of Baghdad and Erbil .
U.S. airstrikes have killed three high - ranking ISIS leaders . The killings had been suspected but finally confirmed on Thursday .