Global Affairs Canada says it's aware of reports that two Canadian citizens have been abducted in Nigeria.
Spokesman John Babcock says consular officials in Nigeria are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information.
Mr. Babcock says further details can't be released for privacy reasons.
A state police spokesman says gunmen ambushed two Canadians and two Americans travelling through Nigeria's northern Kaduna state, abducting them and killing two police officers.
Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu said on Wednesday that the foreigners were heading south from Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday night when they were ambushed around Kagarko.
Mr. Aliyu reported earlier in the day that only two people were abducted – one American and one Canadian – but revised the numbers based on updated information.
"The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, which resulted in the unfortunate death of the two police officers," he said.
The abducted foreigners are investors who were setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan, according to Mr. Aliyu.
Security officers, including an anti-kidnapping unit, have been sent to the area to try to rescue the North Americans and to apprehend their abductors, he said.
Kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria, especially on the highway from Kaduna to Abuja. Two German archeologists were seized at gunpoint last year less than 100 kilometres northeast of Abuja and later freed unharmed.
With files from Associated Press