Conflicts in Iraq and Syria have produced a significant number of extremists in Central Asia and Xinjiang, providing prime recruiting targets for the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups.

Intelligence sources in Ankara estimate at least 1,500 recruits from Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) and Xinjiang (a Uighur autonomous region of northwest China) are already fighting for IS in Syria and Iraq.

“There are [also] hundreds of Central Asians and Uighurs fighting in groups other than IS, such as the Jabhat al-Nusra coalition in Syria,” said Jacob Zenn of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, an institute for research and analysis. Zenn is a senior research fellow specializing in Xinjiang.

Peter Knoope, an associate fellow with the International Center for Counter-Terrorism of The Hague, draws a grim picture. He told Al-Monitor that all the elements needed for the IS recruitment process are found in the region, including young people experiencing “a lack of perspective, unfulfilled ambitions and lack of religious knowledge.”