A Boko Haram faction led by the son of the group's founder is trying to win over civilians by shunning the indiscriminate violence of its longtime figurehead that has alienated locals. Eyewitnesses to a spate of recent raids attributed to Islamist fighters loyal to Abu Musab Al-Barnawi in northeast Nigeria have said they repeatedly told villagers they would not be harmed. Others say mass violence has been reduced in parts of the northern Borno state around Lake Chad now controlled by Barnawi and Mamman Nur, his right-hand man who is seen by some as the real leader.



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