Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Obama condemned the terror attack at an Istanbul airport Wednesday, suggesting that the Islamic State was responsible and pledging that the terror group would ultimately be defeated.

"It's an indication of how little these vicious organizations have to offer," Obama said while meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, where the agenda was mostly on continental cooperation.

"Beyond killing innocents, they are continuing losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over," he said. "They’re going to be defeated in Syria, they’re going to be defeated in Iraq. They are going to be on the run wherever they hide. And we will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have an impact on the entire civilized world."

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Obama did not name the Islamic State specifically, but did not dispel any notion that the terrorist group was most likely to be behind the attack. "We’re still learning all of the facts, but we know this is part of our broader, shared fight against terrorist networks," he said in a three-way news conference with the North American leaders.

Earlier, Obama called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Air Force One to express condolences and offer support in the investigation.

Despite the attack in Istanbul that killed at least 41 people, White House aides touted progress in the war against the Islamic State, especially on closing the border between Turkey and Syria where foreign fighters have entered the conflict — and where terrorists could return to the West.

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White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also said there's been "notable progress" in Iraq with the recapture of Fallujah. "This was obviously a significant gain by Iraqi forces and we obviously were pleased by that progress. But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places," he told reporters on board Air Force One.

But Republicans said the Obama administration is moving too slowly against the threat from the Islamic State.

"You know, they've said they're on the run for many years. And you know, they're not," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaking on Fox News Wednesday morning. "I think the air strikes have ramped up external operations, which is what you're seeing now, both in Turkey and you saw them in Europe. You're seeing them in the United States."

"This is an unprecedented pace of terror in modern times. So, to say they're on the run absolutely defies reality," he said. "They are not on the run. They're on the rise."