Hundreds of Nigerian students are missing, police have reported after gunmen attacked a secondary school in the northwestern Katsina state of the country.

A large group of bandits who shot 'with AK 47 rifles,' Katsina State police spokesman Gambo Isah said in a statement, attacked the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara on Friday night.

Isah said the police engaged the attackers "in a gun duel that gave (some) students the chance to scale the school fence and run for safety."

There are approximately 400 students absent, while 200 are accounted for, Isah said. It is estimated the school has more than 600 students.

Isah said The police, the Nigerian Army, and the Nigerian Air Force are working closely with the school authorities to determine the actual number of students missing and/or abducted."

"Search parties are working to find or rescue the students who are missing," he said.

A town resident, Mansur Bello, told The Associated Press that some of the students were taken away by the attackers.

It is the latest attack by gunmen in Nigeria at a school.

In April 2014, the most significant incident occurred when members of the Boko Haram jihadist group abducted 276 girls from their school dormitory in Chibok, northeastern Borno State. There are still over 100 of the girls missing.

One of many groups of bandits active in northwestern Nigeria is thought to have carried out the latest attack. The gangs are infamous for abducting individuals for ransom.