The students have been freed, the police said.

Gunmen on Friday kidnapped nine students travelling along East-West Road in Ughelli, Delta State, South-south Nigeria.

The driver of the vehicle, however, escaped unhurt, Channels Television reported.

Bright Edafe, the police spokesperson in Delta State, who confirmed the incident to Channels television, said the students were returning from their school in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, on Friday night before they were abducted from the minibus they were travelling in.

Nine students freed -- Police

Meanwhile, the nine kidnapped students have been released by their abductors, Mr Edafe said in a message to PREMIUM TIMES late Monday night.

Mr Edafe, a police superintendent, did not, however, respond to enquiry if ransom was paid before the students were released.

"All nine of them have regained their freedom, please," he said in the message.

The incident occurred about 24 hours after three students of the University of Calabar, Calabar, were abducted by gunmen.

The three students - Ojang Precious, a 200-level student of the Department of Medicine and Surgery; Ugwu Chukwuemeka, a 300-level student of the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology; and Damilola Dickson, a final-year student of the same programme were abducted on Thursday night from one of the university hostels inside the campus, PREMIUM TIMES reported.

Insecurity has worsened in the oil-rich Delta State of late, with the latest incident coming about a week after gunmen killed six police operatives in the state, with six others still missing.

This newspaper also reported the killing of 17 soldiers by suspected residents of the Okuama community in the state, a development that led to the burning of houses in the community.