the groups original leader, mohammed yousef, was captured. he died in police custody.er a new leader, the group attacks became increasingly odd basis. experts believe the group as connections to al qaeda and may receive funding and weapons from the group. boko haram has released videos showing off its arsenal. some citigroup is now better armed than the nigerian military. establishedm has itself primarily in the mainly north nigeria. it is the country's poorest area, one of the poorest in the with high levels of unemployment, infant mortality, and illiteracy. many nigerians accused the government of neglecting the region. thee the general neglect -- general neglect helped boko haram. but if boko haram does not help people, how could they manage to get soldiers, fighters? unemployment is helping them because the youth are looking to find ways to lead. >> boko haram have artie killed thousands of people, and the eu when estimates that hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes. >> earlier, i spoke to dw's reporter who is traveling in northern nigeria. i a

took over after the execution of the group's leader, mohamed yousef. boko haram does not have widespread appeal. >> boko haram is a fringe movement, it is a terrorist group which has assassinated muslim learned men, it has terrorized communities and it is a small group relatively speaking but it casts a large shadow. >> this month's mass killings and the kidnapping of school girls are the most recent teefnts in a series of -- events in a series of bold attacks. nigeria surpasses south africa's wealth, boko haram is based in the poverty stricken north which is mostly muslim. in 2010, boko haram engineered a prison break which freed more than 700 inmates. the next year it launched a suicide attack on the united nations credit outpost. and blew up a bus station killing nearly 100 people. boko haram has a credibility problem and so does the nigerian government. >> the biggest issue ask credibility. boko haram started out and preyed ton grievances of northern nigerians. they tried to fill a gap in which the government was not seen as credible or worthy. the

mohammed yousef was captured and by the police. on amurder was captured cell phone camera. went viral. who is the leader now? guest: it does not have a single leader, what it seems to have is a number of different warlords. the most prominent one is abubakar shekau. he periodically communicates with the outside world using a video. it was by video that he announced last week that it had been his group that had kidnapped the girls. why is this group focused on the west? guest: it is not so much the west. it is the destruction of the nigerian state that it is focused on. promotesducation secularism, secularism promotes the nation state. the nationstate man's worship, orngs like a national anthem ledge of allegiance to the flag. the worship of anything other idolatrous.s western education that promotes it is evil. the destruction of evil is an end that justifies any means, including the slaughter of .6-year-old 218-year-old boys that episode occurred about two months ago. what is the religious makeup of nigeria and how does that play into what is happening? a big place.a is it

jake, boko haram is a terrorist agency that really became militant in 2009 when their leader, yousef mohammed was killed by the police. in the last several years they have killed thousands in nigeria. mostly in the northeast, but they struck here in the capital, and in the central town of jost just yesterday, they have hacked people to death, burned people alive in their homes. this group has attacked mosqus,s churches, police barracks, just in the last month alone they're responsible for 1500 deaths. >> there were twin blast s leaving 118 people dead, and the attack bears the hallmarks of boko haram. how are the people on the ground dealing with this crisis? >> well, this attack sort of highlights the reign of terror that people in nigeria have been living under. the people of nigeria are trying to get the government to stop the flow of violence. we report on these attacks nearly every week. bombings, fire bombs of people's homes. school attacks, as you know, jake, this horrific attack where on april 18th, the boko haram kidnapped 276 girls and six weeks later we're still unable to find thes