THE foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday issued their first joint statement against the Islamic State and supported United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding that members suppress the flow of terrorist fighters and financing.

“Asean denounces all acts of destruction, violence and terror in all its forms and manifestations,” the 10-nation bloc said in a statement that was released after a ministerial dialogue with the United States at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Asean renews its commitment to work with the international community to fight against extremism, radicalism and terrorism and address its root causes,” the bloc added.

Asean “expressed concern over the rise of violence and brutality committed by terrorist/extremist organizations and radical groups in Iraq and Syria, noting that these groups [pose a threat] to the rest of the world,” the statement said.

…“Governments and Muslim community organizations must maintain vigilance against attempts by misguided leaders to spread propaganda to recruit Muslim youth to extremism and violence,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.