'Fight against violent extremism does not equate fight against Islam'

US President Barack Obama said that the fight against violent extremism did not mean it was a fight against Islam and the world should resist granting religious legitimacy to terrorist groups.

Delivering a keynote speech Wednesday at the second day of the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, Obama stressed that it was vital not to stigmatise any community just because of their faith, while calling on Muslim leaders to speak up in the fight against violent extremism.

As the three-day event entered its second day, both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden went to great length to not say that it is a summit about Islamic extremism.

The White House spokesman Josh Earnest said earlier Wednesday that though the White House acknowledged that a particularly virulent strain of extremist ideology has tried to insert itself in the Muslim community, other forms of extremism have also prompted others to carry out acts of violence.

"Extremism has taken a variety of forms in this country in a way that has had violent results," Earnest said.