Clinton urges war on IS, not Muslims

White House hopeful Hillary Clinton called for global unity to crush the Islamic State group, as the carnage in Paris took center stage at Saturday's Democratic presidential debate.

The three candidates began their debate with a moment of silence for the victims in France, bringing Friday's horrific attacks an ocean away to the forefront of the 2016 race as they dominated the first half hour of the political showdown.

Clinton, liberal US Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley united in calling for the destruction of the jihadists accused of massacring at least 129 people in the French capital.

"We are not at war with Islam," said the former secretary of state, choosing her words with care as she warned ordinary Muslims should not be viewed as a threat. "We are at war with violent extremism."

"Our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough," she said, calling for global resolve to defeat IS, "a barbaric, ruthless, violent jihadist terrorist group."

Clinton struck a sharp contrast to Obama's comments in an interview aired on Friday that IS had been contained, saying it "cannot be contained, it must be defeated."

Clinton said American leadership was critical in the effort to destroy IS, but added: "this cannot be an American fight."

Sanders linked Clinton's US Senate vote authorizing the Iraq invasion to the regional chaos that followed. He called it "one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of the United States."

"I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq unraveled the region immensely, and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to ISIS," said Sanders, a US senator from Vermont.

Clintonis leading the race with more than 54 percent of vote, according to a RealClearPolitics average. Sanders is at 33 percent, while O'Malley is languishing at three percent