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Zamfara: Two Kidnapped Nigerian Government Officials Released

On Sunday gunmen dressed as security personnel had kidnapped the state’s budget director, Hamza Salihu along with two aides and killed his deputy on a highway in neighbouring Kaduna state.

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The two officials of Zamfara state government, who were kidnapped by gunmen in an ambush that killed an official, have been released.

The government "expressed happiness over the release of the state's Director of Budget... and one other person who was kidnapped at gunpoint," the Zamfara state spokesman, Yusuf Idris, said in a statement.

Officials "commended the victims' friends and all those that negotiated the release," Idris said.

On Sunday gunmen dressed as security personnel had kidnapped the state’s budget director, Hamza Salihu along with two aides and killed his deputy on a highway in neighbouring Kaduna state.

The spokesman did not comment on the fate of the second kidnapped aide and did not say whether a ransom was paid for the hostages' release. [story_link align="left"]71719[/story_link]

The victims were on an official trip when they were ambushed by the gunmen, who also injured a female colleague of Salihu.

Kidnapping attacks have surged in the northwest of Nigeria, the home region of President Muhammadu Buhari, UK DailyMail reports.