Bandits have attacked different communities in Kaduna state, killing at least nine persons.
The attack according to Channels Television happened in four communities in the state.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in the state, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the attacks and the casualty figure.
He listed the affected areas to include Chikun, Igabi, Zaria, and Zango Kataf.
Three people, according to Aruwan, were killed while another person sustained gunshot injuries when bandits barricaded the Buruku-Udawa section of the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Road in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA).
He added that one man was killed by bandits in the Yola-Kadi general area, also in Chikun LGA, while another resident was injured in the attack.
Similarly, bandits killed two people in Sako village in Zangon Kataf LGA, while two corpses were discovered by a security patrol team in the Kurfi-Magamiya general area of the local government.
In Zaria, one person lost his life after bandits attacked Saye village within the local government, bringing the total number of those killed to nine.
In his reaction, Governor Nasir El-Rufai condemned the attacks and prayed for the repose of the souls of those killed by the armed men.
He also wished the injured ones a speedy recovery and called on security forces to intensify operations against criminal elements across the state.
News of the latest attacks emerged barely a week after bandits killed a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Rilwanu Gadagau.
Gadagau, who represented Giwa Constituency and served as Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, was killed on Monday night.
He was among many other travellers abducted by the criminals who laid an ambush on the Kaduna-Zaria Highway. The operation on the highway, according to sources, lasted more than two hours.
Two days after the incident, the lawmaker’s body was found near Mawai, a village just about 13 kilometres from the Kaduna State capital.