New York, Feb 23 (DPA) The United Nations and US-based computer giants like Microsoft and Google met Monday to discuss ways to fight the use of the internet to recruit terrorists and criminals, the UN said.

The two-day meeting in Seattle, where Microsoft is headquartered, was led by the UN Working Group on Countering the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes. It was also attended by CISCO, Symantec and other global computer firms.

The UN said the internet has been used to recruit members of criminal organisations and raise money for criminal acts.

Richard Barrett, the co-chair of the group, told the UN News Centre that there has been a "high level of crime on the internet".

"It is essential that you bring in the private sector, which is an essential partner in moving forward" in the fight against terrorism on the internet, Barrett said.

Jean-Paul Laborde, head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) grouping UN bodies created to fight terrorism, said at the meeting that the UN is currently the only international organisation working on the internet-terrorism link.

Laborde said discussion on fighting terrorism on the internet should involve more UN departments and governments, as well as the European Union and the Council of Europe to tackle the terrorism-internet connection.