Americas

Americas

Kerry condemns Indonesia attack, meets with Saudi counterpart

14 January 2016 17:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States condemned an attack in the heart of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Thursday that was claimed by Islamic State militants, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, APA reports quoting Reuters.

"These acts of terror are not going to intimidate nation-states from protecting their citizens and continuing to provide real opportunity, education, jobs, possibilities of a future," said Kerry during a break in talks in London with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

"There is nothing in any act of terror that offers anything but death and destruction. And so we stand together, all of us, united in our efforts to eliminate those who choose terror," he said.

Al-Jubeir also condemned the attacks in central Jakarta, which killed two civilians and five assailants. He said: "If anything, it should strengthen our resolve to work effectively together to combat the scourge of terrorism."

The State Department said the topics discussed at the meeting in London would include Iran and a political process to end the war in Syria.

Tensions between the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran have escalated since Saudi authorities executed Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2, triggering outrage among Shi'ites across the Middle East. Iran backs the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia has provided support to Sunni rebels.

Kerry's remarks reflected concern that the tensions could interfere with a UN-led peace process for Syria.

"We want to try to see if there’s a way moving forward to resolve some of these problems without moving to greater conflict," Kerry said. "The last thing the region needs is more conflict."

He added: "There are simple things they would like to see done that help to prevent that and our job is to work together in order to try to get there."