Lagos — The kidnapping of 344 schoolboys in northwest Nigeria had the appearance of an Islamist militant attack. There was even a video purporting to show some of the boys with members of Boko Haram, the extremists behind the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in the northeast.

But four government and security officials familiar with negotiations that secured the boys’ release said the attack was a result of intercommunal feuding over cattle theft, grazing rights and water access...

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