Several soldiers sustained injuries after terrorists launched an ambush on troops heading to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls in Kebbi State.

The attack occurred just 24 hours after the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, directed troops of Operation Fasan Yamma to go “all out” against the bandits responsible for abducting students of Government Girls Secondary School, Maga.

“You must continue day and night fighting. We must find these children,” Shaibu has ordered.

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He further instructed commanders to leverage intelligence for intelligence-based operations, emphasizing: “Once you receive information on something like this, act professionally and decisively. This is not just about our image; it is about doing our job properly.”

Troops were ordered to maintain 24-hour operations until all abducted students are safely rescued and reunited with their families.

In compliance, the soldiers mobilized for the rescue mission but were ambushed by terrorists.

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Video footage obtained by DAILY POST shows several injured soldiers lying helplessly without immediate medical attention.

One of the victims was heard speaking in Hausa language: “Musa has a bullet lodged in his leg. His condition is very bad.”

The troops’ operational vehicle was also riddled with bullet holes during the attack.

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One of the 25 schoolgirls abducted by terrorists from a boarding school in Kebbi State has escaped from captivity and returned home, the school’s principal confirmed on Tuesday.

According to The Guardian, the bandits launched a deadly attack on the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area, on Monday, November 17. During the invasion, the gunmen killed a staff member and abducted 25 students, taking them into the surrounding forests.

According to the principal, Musa Rabi Magaji, one of the abducted girls managed to slip away from the captors and found her way home late on Monday—just hours after the mass abduction. Her unexpected return has offered a glimmer of hope to anxious families awaiting news of their children.

Magaji also disclosed that another student, who was not among the 25 officially listed as abducted, managed to escape during the chaos of the attack.

She added that security operatives have intensified search-and-rescue missions across the area amid rising concerns over the resurgence of school kidnappings that have continued to plague northwestern Nigeria.

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Meanwhile, a top Nigerian general has ordered his troops to fight “day and night” to rescue 25 schoolgirls whose kidnapping in the northwest has been seized on by US President Donald Trump’s followers.

The early Monday morning raid on a secondary school in Kebbi State was the latest abduction of schoolchildren in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria, more than a decade after Boko Haram’s infamous kidnapping of 276 girls in the northeast sparked international uproar.

It has become another flashpoint to draw the ire of the US right following Trump‘s threats of military intervention over the alleged killing of Nigeria’s Christians.

“You must continue day and night fighting. We must find these children,” Major General Waidi Shaibu, recently promoted to chief of army staff, told troops deployed to Kebbi State.

Shaibu urged the soldiers to “leave no stone unturned” in the search for the schoolgirls.

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Though police rushed to the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in the town of Maga, the gang had managed to scale the fence and abduct the students after killing the school’s vice-principal.

Kebbi is caught between the jihadist threat from neighbouring Niger and criminal gangs who loot villages while kidnapping and killing residents across the north of Africa’s most populous country.

Kebbi State police told AFP on Tuesday that the abducted schoolchildren were all Muslim.

But Republican Riley Moore of the US House of Representatives, in a post on X urging his followers to pray for the 25 girls, echoed Trump’s claims of the persecution of Christians.

“While we don’t have all the details on this horrific attack, we know that the attack occurred in a Christian enclave in Northern Nigeria,” Moore wrote.

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Trump at the start of November said he had asked the Pentagon to map out a possible plan of attack in Nigeria because radical Islamists are “killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers”.

Nigeria has rejected that narrative, insisting that the country’s various security crises have left more Muslims dead.

Nigeria is the scene of numerous conflicts, including jihadist insurgencies, which kill both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.

Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told AFP on Monday that Nigeria was in talks with the United States about security.

Asked whether he thought Washington would send the military to strike, Tuggar said: “No, I do not think so.”

“Because we continue to talk, and as I said, the discussion has progressed. It’s moved on from that.”

Chaos erupted on Tuesday morning at the ever-busy Oba Ovonramwen Square, popularly known as Ring Road in Benin City, Edo State, as market women from Oba Market staged a protest against an eviction notice issued by the state government ahead of planned renovation work on the fire-ravaged section of the market.

The women blocked the major road, causing heavy gridlock and forcing traffic to be diverted to adjoining streets.

Their protesters later moved to the Edo State House of Assembly, where they sought government intervention.

Oba Market was among five markets gutted by fire at the wake of the 2020 governorship election in Edo State.

The immediate past governor, Godwin Obaseki, had promised to rebuild the affected markets, a pledge that was not fulfilled, leaving the burnt portions to deteriorate into waste dumps.

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However, Governor Monday Okpebholo, during a recent visit to the market, vowed to rebuild the gutted areas.

Following his visit, the market women were issued a two-month notice to vacate the premises for renovation.

Speaking during the protest, Mrs. Florence Eweka, said the women were taken by surprise by the sudden directive for all traders to leave the market.

According to her, “the problem was that they announced that they want to rebuild the gutted part of the market close to Bob Izua Park.

“They have started working on it, but they just announced that all the market women should leave the market. Where do you want them to go? There should be a preparation to where to go before you send them out.

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“The Ekiosa Market they are rebuilding has not been completed yet. Those ones are in trouble, they are stranded, where do you want us to go? Prepare a place for them before moving them out of this place,” She said.

Another trader, Mrs. Mary Okosun, who operates four shops with six employees, also questioned where she was expected to relocate.

“I have four shops in the market, with six workers, where do you want me to take those wares to? How do you want those persons to feed from? They are asking us to leave here by the end of January.

“Where do they want us to pack? If they want us to pack, they should make provisions for us. Those in other markets are stranded; where do they want us to pack?” she said.

Addressing the protesters, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, appealed for calm, assuring the women that their concerns would be conveyed to Governor Okpebholo.

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He said the governor’s intention was to rebuild the market for the benefit of the traders.

“We are your representatives, and any problem that is brought before us here will be sorted out. The governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, meant well for that your market, because those areas gutted by fire have been turned into toilets. He wants to renovate the market. But you are saying that not all the markets were gutted.

“So we are going to pass the information to him. The area that was burned down will be first rebuilt, then you people will move in there, then the other parts will be rebuilt. The governor wants a better market for you all,” he said.