Through the fall and winter, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram has seemed nearly unstoppable. It has captured town after town in northeastern Nigeria and laid siege to the fishing hamlet Baga and nearby villages, killing hundreds of people. But over the weekend, the group finally suffered a significant setback. The militants tried to invade Maiduguri, a city of two million in the northeast, as well as two towns in the area, Monguno and Konduga. While Monguno — which is 80 miles north of Maiduguri and houses a military base — fell under Boko Haram control on Sunday, Maiduguri and Konduga held their ground, in no small part because of vigilantes who fought alongside the Nigerian military.
Hundreds of Boko Haram militants descended upon Maiduguri from two directions and were met by the vigilantes and soldiers. The assault prompted Nigerian troops, who were caught by surprise, to call in airstrikes. Scores of Boko Haram members — and probably soldiers too, though numbers have not been released — were killed in the fighting. Without the vigilantes, the battle would have most likely been lost.
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Alexis Okeowo is writing a book about people who are standing up to extremism in Africa.
