gunmen

At least eight people were also abducted from the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre in Zaria early on Sunday morning.

Two nurses and a 12-month-old child were among those seized, said a hospital worker.

There has been a recent spate of abductions from schools and universities for ransom.

On Monday, reports emerged of another mass kidnapping from a school near Kaduna city, about 80km (50 miles) south-west of Zaria.

Authorities in Niger state confirmed to the BBC that gunmen had seized an unknown number of students from the school in the town of Tegina on Sunday.

A teacher told the BBC that 150 students were missing, while other reports put the figure at about 200.

Abductions carried out for ransom are increasingly common in northern states.

In February nearly 300 girls were taken by armed men from a boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state. Most were later freed.

A spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said the attack was eventually stopped when three gunmen were killed.

At least 22 people were wounded, the interior ministry said.

The attack began around the time government officials were expected to arrive at the campus for the opening of an Iranian book fair.

All of the dead were students, including 10 women, a Kabul police spokesman told the AFP news agency.

The Taliban denied involvement and condemned the attack.

The Veracruz state prosecutors' office said the gunmen entered the bar and went directly for the victims, who included the local boss of the Zetas drug gang, identified as Jose Marquez Balderas. 

It said reporter Juan Santos Carrera was among those sitting with him.

Two other reporters in the bar were not shot, but were fired by their newspaper for being at the scene with the local cartel boss.