Turkey hosts anti-IS meeting to counter flow of foreign fighters

Coalition forces against the Islamic State (IS) militant group formed a working group to stem flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq in a meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul, a Turkish official said on Thursday.

Turkey and the Netherlands co-chaired the meeting, foreign ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said in a statement.

The working group also discussed an action plan, which is expected to be formally agreed soon, said the spokesperson, noting that the plan includes "methods for struggle against threat of foreign terrorist fighters."

The working group identified measures in the action plan which the "coalition members and international community should take in struggle against threat posed by the Islamic State and against the fact of foreign fighters linked to IS," Bilgic said.

The spokesperson said the action plan lays out "arrangements which will empower decisions taken by the UN Security Council targeting foreign terrorist fighters in Syria and Iraq, also decisions targeting IS and al-Qaida linked terrorist organizations," adding that those arrangements will also contribute at other working groups of the coalition.

The working group will gather in June for its second meeting, said the spokesperson. Endit