Canada announced the addition of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL, to its list of terrorist entities under their criminal code.
The group was already listed as a terrorist group in 2012 August, under the name 'al Qaeda in Iraq', according to a statement from the Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney on Wednesday.
Blaney added that the group has now listed the 'Islamic State' or 'ISIL' with a long list of alternate names included alongside it.
“The barbaric actions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have resulted in the deaths and displacement of innocent civilians across the region and have caused a global security concern,” Blaney said.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic "caliphate," killing thousands of people and displacing millions in the two countries.
The U.S. and its allies have conducted more than 200 airstrikes since August 7 to aid ground forces fighting ISIL.
www.aa.com.tr/en
