Islamic State 'most brutal threat ever' to region: Merkel

November 27, 2014 | 15:48

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday (Nov 25) warned that the Islamic State (IS) "is one of the most brutal threats to the lives of the people in the region ... that there has ever been".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a session of the Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) in Berlin.
(Photo: AFP/Clemens Bilan)

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday (Nov 25) warned that Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria were one of the greatest ever threats to the region.

She said the radical militia "is one of the most brutal threats to the lives of the people in the region ... that there has ever been".

"The IS is also attracting thousands of foreign fighters ... from all G20 countries, whether it's in the other hemisphere or here in Europe," she told parliament after recently attending a summit of 20 leading economies in Australia. "Their radical lack of inhibition and willingness to murder also threatens our security," she said of the extremist group.

Germany believes that some 550 of its citizens have joined the militant cause in Iraq and Syria, of whom some 60 have died in combat or suicide attacks and about 180 have returned home.

Germany is supplying Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq with weapons, ammunition and other aid to fight the IS but says it will not join the US, Britain and other nations in air strikes against the militants.

AFP

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