For over a decade, the extremist group Boko Haram has terrorized northeastern Nigeria — killing tens of thousands of people, kidnapping schoolgirls and sending suicide bombers into busy marketplaces.
Now, thousands of Boko Haram fighters have surrendered, along with their family members, and are being housed by the government in a compound in the city of Maiduguri, the group’s birthplace and its frequent target.
The compound is next to a middle-class housing development and a primary school, terrifying residents, teachers and parents.
“We are very afraid,” said Maimouna Mohammed, a teacher at the primary school, glancing at the camp’s wall 50 yards from her classroom. “We don’t know their minds.”
Thousands of Boko Haram defectors are being housed by the Nigerian government in a city they once terrorized.
"We are very afraid," said a teacher whose primary school classroom is 50 yards from where the fighters are staying. "We don't know their minds." https://t.co/KeyKMiaehh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 24, 2021