ABUJA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police said Friday that security personnel recently killed four suspected gunmen in a shootout at a checkpoint in the country's central state of Benue.

Edet Udeme, the spokesperson for the police in Benue, said in a statement that the gunmen, who were driving a car, resisted a search by security personnel at a checkpoint in the town of Orakam, located in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area, on Thursday.

The gunmen, who wielded AK-47 rifles, opened fire on the security personnel in a desperate attempt to evade arrest during the stop-and-search operation, Udeme said. Four of the five gunmen were killed, while one fled into a nearby bush.

Efforts were underway to track and arrest the fleeing armed suspect, she said.