DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday hosts the first high-level meeting of the 60-member coalition trying to crush the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Kerry, Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi and foreign ministers from European, Arab and other countries will meet at Nato headquarters in Brussels to discuss the best military strategy against the group, officials said.

But they will also look at how to stem the flow of foreign fighters and delegitimise the powerful IS ‘brand’, that has drawn extremists from several Western countries, the officials added.

‘This is the end of the beginning of the formation of the coalition. This is where the coalition comes together,’ a senior State Department official told reporters with Kerry, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1314 HRS, DEC 03, 2014