At least 4 university students in central Nigeria abducted

ABUJA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least four students of the Nasarawa State University in central Nigeria were kidnapped by gunmen early Tuesday, local police said.

The four victims, all female, were abducted in their hostel outside the university premises in Keffi, a town 50 km away from the nation's capital Abuja, when their hostel was attacked, Ramhan Nansel, the spokesman for the police in Nasarawa, told the media.

Police operatives and troops responded swiftly to the attack by combing the surrounding bushes but could not trace the abductors and the victims, Nansel said.

Authorities had ordered a comprehensive manhunt for the abductors so as to rescue the students unhurt, he added.