Interview: Fight against terrorism never a fight between civilizations: president of UN General Assembly

The fight against terrorism is a common international fight and it should never be considered as a fight between civilizations, President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft said.

"It should never be considered as a fight between civilizations, between major religions, but a common effort from all civilizations and major religions," Lykketoft told Xinhua in an interview hours after Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Brussels.

The apparently coordinated terrorist bombings have killed at least 34 people and injured more than 180 others in the Belgian capital, also the capital of the European Union -- the very heart of Europe.

The Brussels carnage, for which the extremist group Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility, came days after the Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam was captured in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek, known as a hiding place for terrorists.

It seems to be home grown groups of fanatics associated with the IS that committed this horrific crime, said Lykketoft of Denmark who serves as the president of the 70th session of the General Assembly.

"This is a small and very dangerous group of gangsters using the Muslim faith as a shield or argument for their crimes and we have to fight them," he said.

Many people feel the same as the majority of those people that have been killed by terrorist activities around the globe are peaceful people of Muslim belief, he said.

The notorious IS has conducted mass killings, abductions and brutal beheadings since it seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Terrorist fighters and extremists affiliated to the group also launched terrorist attacks in other parts of the world. Last year, the IS terrorists bombed several places in Paris and killed 130 people, shocking the world with its brutality.

Lykketoft acknowledged that besides the terrible consequences for those killed or wounded in terrorist attacks, terrorism has created "an unacceptable animosity" between the general public and Muslims.

"I think we have to make this distinction in order to avoid that this is a part of spiral of xenophobia and animosity between major groups and society," he added.

The challenge of terrorism and extremism has become a growing threat facing the entire international community. The Brussels attacks were the latest in the month following a string of terrorist atrocities that hit Turkey, Iraq, Tunisia and Cote d'Ivoire.

Lykketoft said a large number of different things have to be done to fight violent extremism, citing a report from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The world has to address the root causes that nurture the extremism phenomenon, including tackling the propaganda targeting under-privileged people in different corners worldwide, including in European societies, Lykketoft said.

The UN chief, in a report released earlier this year, called on member states to adopt national plans of action to prevent extremism since the extremists groups, including the IS, Al-Qaida and Boko Haram, have spread their influence worldwide.

Ban's report said a focus should be given to seven priority areas, including conflict prevention, strengthening good governance, engaging local communities, empowering women, as well as facilitating education development for young people.

The president of UN General Assembly said "it has to do with education. It has to do with getting, as early as possible, hold on those persons and try to drive them away from a road towards violent extremism and terrorism."

"It is unfortunately also underlining the necessity of very efficient and very hard measures of intelligence cooperation, police cooperation and as well as military actions in the region of the Middle East where the masterminds and coordinators of these actions are probably situated," he added. Enditem