Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman yesterday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, vowing that extremists will no longer “tarnish our beautiful religion”.
Opening the inaugural meeting of the 41-member Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) in Riyadh, Prince Mohammad expressed condolences to the families of Egyptians who were killed in the attack in restive north Sinai. “We will not allow such elements to tarnish the image of Islam,” he said, addressing defence chiefs, diplomats and officials from the member countries who gathered in Riyadh.
His words come as Daesh, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.
Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015.
The alliance, initially announced with 34 nations, now includes 41, according the Saudi government. Addressing the defence ministers and other high-ranking officials, Prince Mohammad said the meeting sends “a strong signal that we are going to work together and coordinate together to support each other”.
General Raheel Sharif, the IMCTC military commander, said almost 70,000 terror attacks took place in recent years, which killed 200,000 people, and impacted several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which suffered the most. General Sharif was Pakistan’s army chief from November 2013 to November 2016.
-With inputs from agencies
