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New deadly strike hits Ukraine city after Crimea bridge blast

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An overnight Russian missile strike killed at least 12 people in Zaporizhzhia, authorities said on Sunday, in the latest deadly attack to hit the southern Ukrainian city that President Volodymyr Zelensky called “absolute evil”.

The reports came a day after a key bridge linking Russia with the annexed Crimea peninsula was partially destroyed by an explosion, and as the Kremlin replaced its top general amid major battlefield setbacks in Ukraine.

Zelensky said 12 people had died and 49 people, including six children, were in hospital after Russian missiles again hit Zaporizhzhia.

City council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev, provided a higher death toll of 17.

At least 17 people including a child also died when seven Russian missiles hit the centre of the industrial city earlier this week.

Regional official Oleksandr Starukh posted pictures of heavily damaged apartment blocks on Telegram and said a rescue operation had been launched to find victims under the rubble.

Zelensky denounced the “merciless strikes on peaceful people” and residential buildings as “absolute evil” perpetrated by “savages and terrorists”.

Divers were to inspect the waters beneath the giant Crimea bridge Sunday a day after a truck bomb ignited a massive fire on the road and rail link, killing three people.

“We are ordering the examination by divers, they will start work from six in the morning,” Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced.

“First results” of Russia’s inspection of the bridge were due Sunday, he added.

Russia on Saturday said traffic had resumed over the strategic link symbolising the Kremlin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge was attacked at dawn, sparking celebrations from Ukrainians and others on social media, where dramatic footage showed it burning with a road section plunging into the water.

But Zelensky did not directly mention it in his nightly address and officials made no claim of responsibility.

Following the blast, the bodies of an unidentified man and a woman were pulled out of the water, likely passengers in a car driving near the exploded truck, Moscow said.

Authorities had identified the owner of the truck as a resident of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, saying his home was being searched.

‘Emergency situation‘

The bridge is logistically crucial for Moscow, a vital transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

It is also hugely symbolic. President Vladimir Putin personally inaugurated the structure in 2018 — even driving a truck across — and Moscow had maintained the link was safe despite the fighting.

While some in Moscow hinted at Ukrainian “terrorism”, state media continued to call it an “emergency situation”.

Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak posted a picture on Twitter of a long section of the bridge half-submerged. “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning,” he wrote.

But in a later statement, he appeared to suggest Moscow had a hand in the blast, noting the truck that detonated “entered the bridge from the Russian side”.

The Kremlin’s spokesman said Putin had ordered a commission to be set up to look into the blast.

Officials in Moscow stopped short of blaming Kyiv, but a Russian-installed official in Crimea pointed the finger at “Ukrainian vandals.”

“There is an undisguised terrorist war against us,” Russian ruling party deputy Oleg Morozov told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Military analysts said the blast could have a major impact if Moscow saw the need to shift already hard-pressed troops to the Crimea from other regions or if it prompted a rush by residents to leave.

Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that even if Ukrainians were not behind the blast, it constituted “a massive influence operation win for Ukraine”.

“It is a demonstration to Russians, and the rest of the world, that Russia’s military cannot protect any of the provinces it recently annexed,” he said on Twitter.

Authorities in Crimea tried to calm fears of food and fuel shortages in Crimea, dependent on the Russian mainland since annexation frm Ukraine.

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Crime

Man jailed 3 months for stealing mobile phone

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An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.

The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.

The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.

Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.

Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec.  1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.

He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.

The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.

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Army apprehends 15 over suspected oil theft in Niger Delta

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Troops of the Nigerian army have apprehended no fewer than 15 persons over suspected oil theft and illegal oil bunkering activities in the Niger Delta.

Lt.-Col. Danjuma Danjuma, the Spokesman, Nigerian Army, 6 Division, Port Harcourt, said in a statement on Monday that the operations were carried out in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers recently.

Danjuma said that the army apprehended 15 persons, dismantled 32 artisanal refineries and seized 14 boats during operations.

He further said that during the operations, conducted between Jan. 6 and 12, the troops confiscated no fewer than 60,000 litres of various petroleum products

The spokesman said that the operations were part of a broader collaborative effort with other security agencies to combat oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

Danjuma said that the raid commenced in Bille, Degema Local Government Area, and Rivers, where soldiers dismantled seven illegal refining sites, confiscated 20,000 litres of crude oil, and destroyed two boats.

“We also deactivated ten illegal refineries, several crude oil cooking pots, and receivers, and recovered about 19,000 litres of stolen petroleum products along the Imo River.

“In Odagwa, Etche, our troops intercepted three boats carrying about 12,000 litres of stolen crude oil and arrested three suspects in the process.

“Similar operations were carried out in Abiama, Asa, Obuzor, Okoloma, Ozaa, Ukwa, and Oyigbo” he added.

He stated that the soldiers advanced to Nkisa in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers, where they confiscated 1,600 litres of crude oil and 1,200 litres adulterated diesel.

Danjuma said that along Ndoni Road, the troops intercepted a Toyota van transporting an estimated 1,200 litres of stolen condensate.

The spokesman said that in Buguma, Asari-Toru, Rivers, the troops dismantled two illegal refineries, seized 1,500 litres of stolen crude oil, and apprehended five suspects.

“In Baberegbene, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa, our soldiers dismantled an illegal artisanal refinery and intercepted a wooden boat carrying no fewer than 1,500 litres of stolen

“Similarly, an illegal refining site containing an unquantified quantity of stolen petroleum products was deactivated in Emago-Kugbo and Oluasiri communities in Nembe, Bayelsa.

“The operations continued in Akwa Ibom and Delta, where troops maintained a strong presence and effectively denied economic saboteurs the liberty to operate,” he said.

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2 ladies docked for allegedly obtaining money by fraud

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The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.

Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.

They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.

He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.

The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.

He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.

The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.

He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.

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