Scores of daredevil terrorists and some military personnel have been killed following a gun battle in Niger and Kaduna States.

Nigerian Army Headquarters made the disclosure in a statement posted on its official X handle on Wednesday.

The statement said the operations were carried out in Kwanar Dutse Mairiga and Boka, Niger State, and Aungwan Turai, Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State.

The daredevil terrorists had launched an unprovoked attack on the aforementioned areas.

According to the statement, in response to the attacks, “land and air component troops launched several counter-attacks that eliminated scores of bandits in the encounters.

“Sadly, some gallant warriors paid the supreme price in the day-long battles, while four wounded in-action troops are currently receiving treatment for their gunshot wounds.

More updates later.”

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the sidelines of the NATO defence alliance summit.

He is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.

Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.

“This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,” Zelensky said after the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a “rejection of peace” from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.

“It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,” Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.

Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.

– Toddler killed –

Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.

The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.

Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.

“The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,” he said.

One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.

Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.

AFP

Students of the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) University, Lapai in Niger State took to the streets of Lapai today to protest the killing of one of them by armed robbers.

It was learnt that robbers invaded a student lodge close to the school gate in the early hours of today and in the process killed a 200-level student who resumed for the session yesterday.

The robbers also carted away several valuables belonging to the students without any resistance from security agents from the institution.

The students began protesting at the front of the school gate blocking the road and burning tires and sticks.

The students said the insecurity in the school began since the beginning of this year and they have been complaining to the school authorities and the police but nothing was done to address it.

It was learnt that robbers invaded a student lodge close to the school gate in the early hours of today and in the process killed a 200-level student who resumed for the session yesterday.

The robbers also carted away several valuables belonging to the students without any resistance from security agents from the institution.

The students began protesting at the front of the school gate blocking the road and burning tires and sticks.

The students said the insecurity in the school began since the beginning of this year and they have been complaining to the school authorities and the police but nothing was done to address it.

The students claimed that several female students have been sexually harassed in the course of robbery while several students have lost their valuables to the robbers.

The students are insisting that they will not disperse until the government and school authority take step to address the insecurity in the school community stressing their lives are no longer safe.

Calls and messages to the Information Officer of the institution were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abiodun Wasiu confirmed the killing of the student by armed robbers saying that he was stabbed on the neck.

“Today being 23rd June, 2025 at about 3am, information was received that at about 2.30am, some hoodlums attacked a student lodge at Ndakitabu area via Lapai.

Police operatives of Lapai Division rushed to the scene, but the suspected robbers had escaped.

“Unfortunately, one Jafar was stabbed on the neck and he was rushed to General Hospital Lapai where he was later confirmed dead,” Abiodun said in a statement.

He also confirmed the students have barricaded Agaie-Lapai road, adding that tactical teams of the Command have been dispatched to Lapai to ensure that normalcy is restored.

Source: The Nation