Muslim clerics meeting in Iran vow to combat extremists like Islamic State group in mosques

QOM, Iran – Muslim clerics meeting in Iran have vowed to counter extremists like the Islamic State group through mosques and Islamic teaching centers.

The announcement Monday came at the end of a two-day conference of Sunni and Shiite clerics in Iran's holy city of Qom.

Their pledge also comes after a request made by the U.S. for Middle Eastern countries to counter the slick propaganda of the Islamic State group, which now holds territory across Syria and Iraq.

Shiite-majority Iran has been helping battle the Islamic State group in Iraq while a U.S.-led coalition has been bombing it from the air.

The Islamic State group views Shiites as apostates deserving of death and has massacred hundreds of captured Syrian and Iraqi soldiers, as well as Sunni rivals.