Abuja, May 30 (IANS): Nigerian police have confirmed the release of 14 university students and staff who were kidnapped last month in Kaduna state.

About 20 people including students and two staff of the privately-owned Greenfield University in in the Chikun local government area of the state were kidnapped by unknown gunmen on April 20, reports Xinhua news agency.

Mohammed Jalige, a spokesman for the police in Kaduna, told reporters that the students were found after being released by their abductors on Saturday afternoon, at a location along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway.

According to Samuel Aruwan, a commissioner for internal security and home affairs in the state, the two staff of the university were among those released by the gunmen.

"Fourteen persons were released in total, comprising students and staff," Aruwan said in a terse statement.

Police authorities in Nigeria confirmed the abduction on April 21, saying the gunmen infiltrated the university in large numbers and abducted the students and two staff, while killing one member of staff.

On April 23, the gunmen killed three students in their captivity.

The bodies of the students were found at a location close to the school.

This was followed by the gruesome killing of two more students on April 26.

On May 1, one of the abducted students was released by the gunmen after his parents paid an undisclosed ransom, according to local media reports.