ISIL losing its territory, leaders: Kerry
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US Secretary of State John Kerry attends a ceremony at the Brussels National Airport to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks on March 25, 2016 in Zaventem. (AFP Photo)
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that ISIL Takfiri terrorist group is losing its territory, leaders and fighters.
“Its territory is shrinking every day,” Kerry told reporters in Brussels, Belgium on Friday. "Its leaders are being decimated, its revenue sources are dwindling, and its fighters are fleeing.”
His remarks came following terrorist attacks by ISIL that claimed the lives of at least 31 people and wounded 200 others in Brussels on Tuesday.
According to Press TV, the attacks, coordinated from a northern suburb of Brussels called Schaarbeek, drew the world’s ire as 11 people died in a suicide bombing in the Zaventem airport and 20 others were killed in Maelbeek metro station near the US Embassy and European Union headquarters.
Kerry said the US and other countries are trying to defeat ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, but added that this will take time, effort and resources.
“As we have said many times, President Obama, myself and others, our mission to destroy and defeat ISIL is not going to happen overnight,” Kerry said.
“It’s going to take some time and patience and persistence. It will require resources and commitment and cooperation across many cultures and beliefs, and the recognition that this is in fact a global challenge, but I am absolutely confident that we’ll be successful.”
On Friday, US State Department Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau confirmed that two Americans were among those killed in the terrorist attacks.
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