Report by the Kaduna State government said no fewer than 888 people were killed in the state by bandits and other criminal elements between January to September, 2021.
It said that within the same period 2,553 people were kidnapped in the North-West state.
The report noted that in two months alone, between July to September, bandits killed 343 people.
The report was presented to Governor Nasir el-Rufai on Wednesday as a third quarter security report from the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan.
While presenting the report to the state governor at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna, Aruwan said that most of the killings were as a result of kidnappings and activities of bandits.
He, however, noted that some deaths within the period under review were due to communal clashes, violent attacks and reprisals that cut across all ethnic and religious groups in the state.
After receiving the report, el-Rufai called on the Federal Governent to declare bandits as terrorists.
He said, “We in the Kaduna State government had always urged for the declaration of bandits as insurgents and terrorists. We have written letters to the federal government since 2017 asking for this declaration because it is this declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.
“So, we support the resolution by the National Assembly and we are going to follow up with a letter of support for the federal government to declare these bandits and insurgents as terrorists, so that there will be fair game for our military.”
The governor, meanwhile, sympathised with the victims of the attacks and ordered for the immediate compensation of surviving victims and relatives of the deceased.
He assured to continue supporting security forces to enable them eliminate the bandits in the state and the North-West region.