Nigeria, May 11 -- The police in Edo State on Monday engaged kidnappers in a gun battle, killing three of them and rescuing seven victims, an official has said.

Kontongs Bello, the Edo police spokesperson, said this in a statement on Monday.

He said the police worked with a local vigilante team to achieve the feat.

He said the security team encountered the suspected kidnappers at the Ahor axis of the Benin-Lagos bypass and engaged them in a fierce gun battle, where three of the suspected kidnappers were killed.

He did not say if the police sustained any casualty in the battle.

Mr Bello said that with the seven rescued victims, and the 13 rescued last Saturday, the total number of victims rescued between Saturday and Monday were now 2...