Nigeria gunmen free abducted children in northwest

Gunmen who abducted a group of children working on a farm in northwest Nigeria's Katsina state have freed the hostages, the police said.

Dozens of gunmen on motorcycles on Sunday last week seized children harvesting crops for a fee on a farm outside Mairuwa village in Faskari district, the police and a local official had told AFP.

Officials had earlier reported that 39 children were rounded up by the abductors from a criminal gang who demanded a ransom to free the hostages, but on Sunday reduced that number to 21.

Katsina State police spokesman Isah Gambo said late on Saturday that all 21 children kidnapped on the farm had been freed.

"It is with great joy that I announce the release of all the 21 abducted workers that were kidnapped while working in a farmland," Isah said in a statement.

"They have been reunited with their families. Investigation is ongoing."

He did not say if a ransom was paid to secure the release of the hostages who he said comprised 17 girls and four boys, aged between 15 and 18.

Katsina is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria that are terrorised by criminal gangs locally known as bandits, who raid villages, killing and abducting residents as well as looting and burning homes.

Hostages are usually released after ransom payment to the gangs, who reputedly hole up in the vast Rugu forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.

Bandits in the past have targeted schools and colleges in Nigeria to kidnap large numbers of students, usually from remote areas where children sleep in dormitories.