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In early December, Turkey announced the arrest of two Islamic State (IS) militants accused of plotting an attack inside the country on New Year’s Eve. The detained persons are said to be foreigners from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan who have links to IS’s Khorasan branch and were caught after trying to flee from police in Istanbul. The Tajik, Abu Maimun, is described as an improvised explosives expert, trainer of jihadists in battlefield tactics, and producer of propaganda for social media. Turkish authorities claim the plot was modeled after the January 1, 2017 nightclub shooting in Istanbul. Notably, the perpetrator of the said attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, was also of Central Asian descent — an Uzbek national — while another suspect deemed complicit was later arrested in Kyrgyzstan.