Maldives has joined the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS terrorist group.
The coalition was formed in 2014 by the US in response to the attacks by the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq. The United States claimed that the Iraqi government had requested the formation of a coalition against IS.
The US embassy in Maldives confirmed that the Maldives had become the newest member of the coalition.
Maldives is now listed as a member of the coalition on the US State Department website. However, the Maldives government has not yet commented on the matter.
According to a statement from the US State Department, the total number of members has risen to 87 with the addition of Maldives.
The statement was released after ministers of the coalition convened in Washington on September 30 to mark 10 years since the formation of the coalition.
Deputy Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and senior officials convened at the invitation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
However, it is unclear whether Maldives was represented at the meeting.
Several Maldivians have previously travelled to Syria to become members of the IS terrorist group. Some of them were killed while some were brought back to the country earlier this year.
Additionally, a Maldivian who was a senior member of the IS was arrested in 2022.
Former Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said at the time that a 30-year-old man was arrested on January 6, 2022 in collaboration with the FBI and two European Union (EU) agencies.
