Gunmen have carried out a deadly attack on a hospital in central Nigeria, abducting a number of staff, as well as patients and relatives.

The governor of Niger state, Sani Bello, condemned the raid on Gulu general hospital in the Lapai area as callous and inhuman.

There's no official word on the number of people involved in the attack staged in the early hours of Tuesday, but a resident told the BBC that three people had died and about 20 had been kidnapped.

Niger is one of the states badly affected by a sustained wave of abductions and killings by armed gangs.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7

Source: BBC