KADUNA (Nigeria): Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped at least 87 people, including women and children in Kaduna state, residents and police said on Monday, in a fresh attack after an armed gang seized 286 students and staff from a school in early March.

Kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransom payments have become an almost daily occurrence in Nigeria, especially in the north, with authorities seemingly powerless to stop them.

Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan confirmed the incident in Kajuru Station village on Sunday night but could not give a figure of those missing. He said security agents had been deployed to try to rescue the villagers.

Tanko Wada Sarkin, a village head, said 87 people were taken.