Saudi Prince: Islamic military coalition will fight terrorism until 'eradicated'
(CNN)Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said a two-year-old Islamic military coalition charged with fighting terror "will pursue terrorism until it is eradicated completely," Saudi-backed broadcaster Al-Arabiya reported Sunday.
"We will not allow them (terrorists) to distort our peaceful religion. Today we are sending a strong message that we are working together to fight terrorism," Prince bin Salman said at the inaugural meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition's defense ministers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Al Arabiya reported.
"Today we affirm that we will pursue terrorism until it is eradicated completely," Prince bin Salman said, according to Al Arabiya.
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The Saudi-led coalition, which now has some 40 members, was formed in 2015 to fight terrorism amid criticism that Arab states were not doing enough to fight ISIS. The coalition's joint operation center is based in Riyadh.
Prince bin Salman's comments come in the wake of Friday's deadly bombing of a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai in Egypt. The attack killed more than 300 people, including 27 children, according to Egypt's state prosecutor.
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Another 128 people were injured, according to a statement from the public prosecutor read on Egyptian state-run news channel Nile TV.
Abdallah Abdel Nasser, 14, receives medical treatment at Suez Canal University hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, after Friday's attack.
The attackers had long beards and hair, were wearing military fatigues and were armed with heavy machine guns, according to the statement. At least one of the attackers who entered the mosque was carrying an ISIS flag the statement said.
There has not yet been a claim of responsibility from ISIS or its affiliate in Egypt. But the attack bears the hallmarks of a strike by ISIS, which maintains a stronghold in the north of the Sinai Peninsula and inspires local Islamist extremist groups, despite efforts by Egyptian security forces.
