Kerry in Cairo for talks to build up anti-IS coalition

CAIRO (Xinhua) - US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Saturday for a visit in a bid to build up a coalition to counter and defeat the Islamic State (IS) militants, according to local media reports.

The visit is the latest leg of his Middle East tour that has taken him to Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Before his arrival, the top US diplomat has managed to secure the support of ten Arab nations for a global drive to clamp down on the extremist terrorist group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

At the Jeddah conference on Thursday, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledged to "do their share" in the global fight against IS militants.

However, Kerry ruled out the possibility to include Iran in the coalition, saying it was "not appropriate" for Tehran to join talks on combating Islamic State militants.

He also said it was "premature" to tell what tasks individual coalition partners would have to do.

In Cairo, Kerry is going to meet with the Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and brief the secretary general on the results of the Jeddah conference, MEAN reported.

He will also hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, as well as other senior Egyptian officials on Saturday over "bilateral ties and regional issues of mutual concern," according to a foreign ministry statement.