Islamic State group 'seeks new revenue' after significant losses

The Islamic State group is looking to increase revenue from taxation, smuggling antiquities "and potentially kidnap for ransom" after losing territory and oil revenue following the destruction of significant oil facilities, a top UN official has said.

The group is not short of either arms or fighters, New Zealand's UN Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen - the chair of the UN committee monitoring sanctions against IS and al-Qaeda - told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

While recent reports indicate that the flow of recruits is slowing, he said, "estimates suggest that upwards of 30,000 foreign terrorist fighters have travelled to Iraq and Syria to date".

Van Bohemen said the threat from IS was expanding geographically, and, as pressure increases on its territory in Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters are seeking to return home.

This poses a challenge, he said - while some returning fighters are disillusioned "others return radicalised, battle-hardened and well-networked" and pose a serious risk to the international community.

"Their capacity to initiate complex attacks at great speed is already becoming a reality," van Bohemen said.

"IS affiliates in Libya, Afghanistan and Yemen are steadily gaining a foothold and becoming increasingly important to the survival of the group," he said. As pressure grows on the group in Iraq and Syria "it is expected IS will look to move funds to these affiliates, including through the use of informal money transfers."

Van Bohemen said tracking the travel of "foreign terrorist fighters" had become more difficult. Instead of travelling directly to the neighbouring country of a conflict area, many "are now taking multiple, indirect routes, often using more than one passport".

To combat this, he urged all countries to implement UN resolutions calling for the sharing of information to better detect and disrupt their movements.

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Van Bohemen said the movement of funds and fighters outside IS-controlled territory also provided an opportunity for UN members to freeze assets.

He urged all countries to send the committee new names for the UN sanctions blacklist.

All countries are required to freeze the assets and ban travel of individuals on that list.