KANO, (Nigeria): Gunmen have killed six people, including two Indians, in Nigeria’s Kogi state, police said Saturday, with the region wracked by jihadist and gang violence.

The attackers opened fire on a bus in the industrial town of Ajaokuta late Friday, killing two Indians, their two police escorts and two drivers, state police spokesman William Ovye Aya said in a statement.

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“Two expatriates, two company drivers and two police inspectors died in the exchange of fire”, Aya said.

He described the gunmen as “hoodlums”, a term used by the police for criminals and jihadists. Aya said the Indians were employees of a ceramics company in the town. He said the attackers fled before police reinforcements arrived on the scene.