TheCable

The Kaduna government says 323 persons were killed while 949 others were abducted by bandits in the last three months across the state.

Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs, shared the breakdown on Friday while presenting a report on the security situation in the state.

The commissioner said 64 bandits were killed by troops during the period under review.

He said: “Deaths linked to banditry, violent attacks, communal clashes and reprisals in the first quarter totaled 323 across the state.”

Giving a breakdown of the death toll, he said 20 them were women and 11 were minors.

“Out of the 323 citizens killed, 292 were males. All the 236 of the deaths occurred in Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Igabi, Giwa and Kajuru LGAs,” he said.

“Birnin Gwari recorded the highest figure of 77 deaths, followed by Chikun with 52, Igabi 45, Giwa 42, Kajuru 20 deaths in the first quarter.

“Southern Kaduna senatorial district had 68 deaths in total, of which 5 were women and two below the age of 18. Kajuru had 28 deaths, followed by Zangon Kataf with 14 and Kagarko with 12.

“And the northern senatorial zone is the least affected with 19 people killed and Zaria has the highest casualty of six.

“Multiple scores of bandits were neutralised via about 150 targeted aerial missions conducted by the Nigeria air force.

“These missions were initiated based on credible intelligence of bandit activity and locations of camps, which were targeted and destroyed.”

The commissioner added that several gunrunners were intercepted and arrested with arms and ammunition which include “AK47 rifles, 1959 rounds of live ammunition and one rocket-propelled grenade”.

He said investigations were ongoing towards dismantling gunrunning networks and blocking arms routes into the state.