Turkey hosts anti-IS meeting

Coalition forces against the Islamic State (IS)formed a working group to check the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq in a meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul, a Turkish official said on Thursday.

Turkey and the Netherlands co-chaired the meeting, Xinhua news agency reported citing a statement from foreign ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic.

The working group also discussed an action plan, which is expected to be formally agreed on soon, said the spokesperson, noting that the plan includes "methods for struggle against threat of foreign terrorist fighters".

The working group identified measures in the action plan which the "coalition members and international community should take in the struggle against the threat posed by the Islamic State and against the foreign fighters linked to IS", Bilgic said.

The spokesperson said the action plan laid out "arrangements which will empower decisions taken by the UN Security Council targeting foreign terrorist fighters in Syria and Iraq, also decisions targeting IS and Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organisations", adding that those arrangements would also contribute to other working groups of the coalition.

The working group would gather in June for its second meeting, said the spokesperson.