AT LEAST 30 villagers have been killed and several others abducted by gunmen who raided a village in northern Nigeria, police said today.

The attackers stormed the Kasuwan-Daji village in the Borgu local government area of Niger state on Saturday evening and opened fire on residents. They also burnt down the local market and several houses, police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement.

Residents put the death toll at 37 and said it could be much higher as some people remained missing.

They said security forces had not yet arrived in the area, contradicting a police claim that officers have been deployed to search for those kidnapped.

Catholic church spokesman Stephen Kabirat told local media that the gunmen had killed more than 40 people and that some of those abducted were children.

Also today the emergency services said that a passenger boat had capsized in northern Nigeria’s Yobe state, leaving at least 25 people dead and 14 others missing.

Of the 52 passengers on board the boat when it capsized on the river Yobe in Garbi town, 13 were rescued and are receiving medical help, the Yobe emergency management agency said.