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Iraq's Abadi, 100 Other Leaders To Join U.S. Counterterrorism Summit


Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is among more than 100 leaders taking part in a counterterrorism summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama at the United Nations next week.

A total of 104 countries are invited to the September 29 summit that will take stock of the U.S.-led campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, one year after it was launched.

One country not invited to the event was Iran, even though it is playing a major role in the fight against IS in neighboring Iraq, providing military advisers, weapons, and trainers to the Iraqi Army and Shi'ite militias.

Some 30 regional organizations and 100 nongovernmental groups will attend.

Obama last year vowed to crush IS during his address to the UN General Assembly and called on countries to join the United States in the campaign.

Since then, the militants have captured territory in Syria and Iraq and gained a foothold in Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Middle East, with alliances as far afield as Nigeria's Boko Haram.

Based on reporting by AFP

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