from k uya. ahmed idris reports. >> reporter: for the first time in three years, he can work on his farm. like many villages around the northwest he's returning home after being forced out by thieves. for them tilling the land was impossible until a few months ago. >> translator: we suffered and lost lives and property. we fled several times and decided not to run. we can't run forever. we are still afraid, but where else can we go. >> reporter: hundreds are killed across the region, families have been pushed in to poverty as thousands of cattle were stolen. communities are just beginning to rebuild. >> translator: thieves are common now, me my people are coming back, for most it is a tough decision to return. we are trying to get back on our feet. but it is not easy. >> reporter: now a few are trying to raise cattle again. the young also take advantage of the situation to have some fun at the river. and these communities are less than two-kilometers from a regional security post. half the popula

half of the population of k uya is now back after self-imposed exile. for years bandits have terrorized these villages forcing entire communities to leave. now in many liberated areas, peace has returned. animals stolen from here are taken hundreds of kilometer as way to be sold. yet what many don't understand is how the animals are sold without anyone getting caught. the government assures those that have returned that they are serious. [ inaudible ] where this has been allocated. [ inaudible ] will be there so that the police can control security of the life of the community there. >> reporter: but that has come too late for some. this village was raided by robbers two years ago. and the residents aren't looking forward to coming back to these ruins. mmohamed idris, al jazerra, northwest nigeria. >>> in iraq shia fighters have withdrawn from three areas of ramadi controlled by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. al jazerra has learned this move is to allow u.s.-trained sunni force to his target that area. there are doubts, though, as to how succ