Authorities in restive northeast Nigeria on Thursday transferred around 1,500 displaced people back to their jihadist-hit hometown despite security fears over ongoing attacks. A convoy of some 30 buses took the group of mainly women and children from a sprawling camp in main city Maiduguri to the fishing town of Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad. The move was the latest in a government drive to send people displaced by Nigeria's decade-long jihadist conflict back to the towns and villages they fled. "The government is determined to return all the people displaced by the insurgency to their homes and close all IDP (internally displaced person) camps," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak. Around two million people have been displaced in the region, with many forced into makeshift camps where they rely on food handouts from international aid agencies. Authorities have in the past two years been encouraging the displaced to return to their homes despite concern by aid agencies of the security risks due to increased attacks by the insurgents. Borno state governor Babagana Umara Zulum recently insisted the displaced must return to their homes and rebuild their lives as keeping them in camps was no longer financially sustainable. But last month Zulum's convoy was attacked by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters outside Baga in which 30 security personnel and civilians were killed. Much of Baga's population was forced to flee some six years ago when the jihadists seized swathes of territory. Hauwau Mustapha was among the displaced returning to Baga despite apprehension over the safety of her and her six children. "I'm determined to go back home with the hope that things will work out well and the government will provide the security it promised," Mustapha said. Despite security assurances by officials for returnees, fisherman Kado Sani decided to leave his family in Maiduguri while he headed to Baga to "study the situation back home". "It is better to play safe with my family," he said. At least 36,000 people have been killed in the 10-year conflict in northeast Nigeria. The violence has spilt into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, with the affected countries forming a regional military coalition to fight the Islamist groups. abu-del/erc