Arab anti-terror coalition stepping up fight against Islamic State

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Arab nations at an anti-terrorism conference this weekend agreed to improve their military capabilities to fight off terrorist organizations.

The meeting Sunday in Riyadh of representatives of 41 countries was sponsored by the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which was created specifically to fight the Islamic State terror network.

Officials agreed to cut financial support to terrorist groups and noted the importance of empowering media to combat extremist ideologies and propaganda.

In a keynote speech, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vowed to "pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth."

"The greatest danger terrorism and extremism have achieved is not the killing of innocents or the spread of hatred [but] the distorting of our faith," he said. "We will not allow such elements to tarnish the image of Islam."

In his address, the prince acknowledged the weekend attack on an Egyptian mosque that killed more than 300 people, and emphasized that the Islamic State has been expelled from Syria and Iraq.

Gen. Raheel Sharif, IMCTC military commander and former Pakistani military chief, said nearly 70,000 terror attacks have occurred and 200,000 people have been killed since the Islamic State's inception.