Gunmen kidnapped at least 52 people, including children, in a weekend attack on a village and military base in northwest Nigeria's Zamfara state, local sources told AFP on Monday. "The gunmen went from house to house, abducting many people," another resident, Ahmad Usman, told AFP, giving the same toll. Alhaji Ibrahim Musa told AFP the attackers "overpowered (a) military base stationed here in our community". - Military claims success -Army spokesman Olaniyi Osoba said troops "successfully" repelled the attack on the military base, in which the gunmen killed a soldier and a policeman and "abducted an unspecified number of residents". Bandit gangs operate across swathes of rural northwest and central Nigeria, where state presence is weak.