Australian, Turkish PMs announce intelligence sharing deal to combat IS

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu have announced plans to stop the flow of Australians across the Turkish-Syrian border to fight for the Islamic State (IS) group.

The pair, in a statement released in Canberra on Thursday, said the two countries had agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation to counter terrorism, tackle terrorist financing and mitigate the threats from foreign fighters.

The porous border is frequently used as a transit point by foreign fighters travelling to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Using the pejorative term DAESH, the Arabic equivalent of "IS", rather than referring to them as Islamic State, the two leaders underlined the importance of stopping foreign fighters travelling to conflict zones.

"Australia welcomed Turkey's renewed efforts to prevent young people from using Turkey's border as the entry point to joining DAESH and other terrorist organizations through tougher border controls and increased information sharing," the statement said.

"With over 100 Australians fighting with DAESH in Iraq and Syria, and the arrest this week in Melbourne of young men intent on bringing the violence to Australia, Australia will continue to do all it can to stop foreign fighters," it said.

The leaders said they welcomed progress towards a mutual legal assistance treaty and an memorandum of understanding on the return of foreign fighters.

They agreed to use all avenues to tackle the issue including developing "an effective counter narrative to extremist ideology especially online."

The deal followed Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's announcement on Monday to share intelligence with Iran regarding Islamic State.

Islamic State continues to attempt recruitment in Australia with a 12-minute online video emerging on Thursday in which a former Melbourne man called on his followers to attack Australia. Endi