Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed criminal gang in a shootout and airstrikes earlier this week, according to a situation report shared with the UN and seen by AFP on Thursday.

Armed gangs known as "bandits" have taken root across Nigeria's rural hinterlands. They raid, loot and burn villages, exact taxes, and conduct kidnappings for ransom.

On Tuesday, Nigerian air and ground troops "foiled an attempted bandit attack, launching air strikes and shootouts" in the northwestern state of Niger, according to the report, which was produced by a private conflict monitor.

It added that "at least 95 bandits" were killed in the clash, which occurred near the villages of Warari and Ragada in the Rijau local government area.

Several 'terrorists neutralised'

The Nigerian military put out a statement about the clash on Wednesday, saying that forces "engaged terrorists in a firefight, neutralising several."

One soldier was killed, it said.

Nigeria's myriad bandit gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states, in unrest that evolved from clashes between herders and farmers over land and resources into a broader conflict across the countryside.

Since 2011, organised armed gangs formed, with cattle rustling and kidnapping becoming moneymakers in the northwest.