Iraq PM urges Islamic countries to counter sectarianism, defeat IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday called on the Islamic countries to counter sectarianism and ethnicism and confront the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

"This (Islamic) nation must have vigilance, today all weapons are used in disputes among its states (OIC states); the sectarian weapon is used in the disputes and ethnicism as well. This is what happened in our neighbor Syria," Abadi told that 11th conference of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Members States (PUIC) in Baghdad.

"Daesh (IS in Arabic) has come here (in Iraq) to devastate our cities, but we in Iraq have decided to unite and put our hands together to expel those Daesh followers," he said.

Abadi added that those who are fighting IS group in Iraq are Iraqis from all the country's sects and ethnicities.

He thanked the international support to Iraqis. "We welcome all the support of weapons and air strikes that provided for us by the international coalition in the fight against those criminals (IS militants)."

The two-day conference is attended by delegations from more than 40 countries, among them parliament speakers from Kuwait, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Tunisia, Turkey, Algeria, Pakistan, Mali and the Sudan.

It comes at the height of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and condemnation by Iran that led to the attack and torching of the Saudi embassy in Tehran earlier this month. Endit