Updated

Police say Nigerian troops have saved the life of a young woman strapped with explosives and killed another. The two were apparently planning to attack the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

Police spokesman Victor Isuku says soldiers on guard duty spotted two young women moving toward a large gas station and ordered them to halt. When they continued to advance, soldiers shot and killed one of the women. The second surrendered.

Isuku says both women were wearing jackets laden with explosives and the soldiers were able to disarm them.

The incident occurred Tuesday morning just outside Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram and headquarters of the military campaign to curb the 7-year-old Islamic uprising that has killed more than 20,000 people and left 2.6 million homeless.