Foreign Ministers Gather in London for Anti-ISIL Coalition Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Foreign ministers from the international coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group are gathering for talks in London on Thursday, with the threat posed by foreign fighters at the top of the agenda after extremists attacks in France.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are co-hosting talks involving 21 of the 60-odd countries that are working together to tackle the ISIL group based in Syria and Iraq.
It will be the first time the US-led coalition has met since this month's Paris attacks that left 17 dead.
"Terrorists want to drive us apart, but in fact their actions have had the opposite effect, they're bringing us together... with greater determination, greater resolve to be able to get the job done. And that is precisely what we're going to talk about in London," Kerry said.
"We need to move ahead on every single front, militarily, but also through law enforcement, through intelligence sharing, by attacking the root causes so that terrorist appeals fall flat and foreign recruits are no longer enticed to go a place and wreak havoc on it."
A US state department official said foreign fighters would be a "real focus" of the meeting and that an expert working group would be formed on sharing information to stop militants travelling.
Twelve people were killed in a shooting at French magazine Charlie Hebdo this month by gunmen affiliated with Al-Qaeda, while a third attacker who shot dead a policewoman and attacked a Jewish supermarket, killing four, claimed he was working on behalf of the IS group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The attacks rekindled fears about the dangers posed by well-trained jihadists returning from foreign battlefields, AFP reported.
European police agency Europol estimates up to 5,000 EU citizens have gone to join the ranks of militants in Syria and Iraq.
