Nigeria police say 20 kidnapped bus passengers rescued

Nigerian police said 20 people abducted from two buses by gunmen in southeastern Imo state have been rescued after six days in captivity.

The passengers were members of Nigeria's National Youth Service Corps, a one-year national service programme for university graduates, and had been travelling from Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.

Police in Imo state said unidentified armed men stopped the buses early Thursday on a road near Umunoha. Police spokesman Ani Iniedu said the victims were rescued on October 7 at Amakohia Ubi Village after search-and-rescue operations.

Iniedu said the rescued passengers had been taken for medical assessment and care, and that police were working to arrest the kidnappers.

Abductions for ransom by criminals, armed groups and jihadists are a multimillion-dollar industry in Nigeria, though the violence is usually concentrated in the north. The southeast has seen more violence in recent years, including kidnappings and fatal raids on security checkpoints, as secessionists push for independence.