Gunmen in north west of Nigeria's Katsina State have abducted at least 50 civilians from every one village.

Residents of Bakiyawa said the attackers arrives in the middle of the night on motor-bikes.

They then opened fire killing one person and wounding at least seven others.

A police spokesman said security forces had clashed with the heavily armed gunmen. They however failed to prevent the kidnappings.

The authorities said efforts were under way to track down the attackers and rescue the hostages.

Katsina is the President Muhammadu Buhari's home state. He is facing criticism for the Nigerian government failure to tackle widespread in-security including frequent kidnappings for ransom.