Security operatives shot dead two female suicide bombers, while two others blew themselves up in a failed attempt to sneak into Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri early Tuesday, the police said.

Six local farmers were wounded following the blast in Tomsu Ngamdu, a community on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of the northern Borno State, said Victor Isuku, a spokesman for the police.

The suicide bombers were accosted by security personnel, causing two of them to prematurely detonate their improvised explosive devices while the rest were quickly shot dead as they attempted to flee.

Isuku said the wounded farmers had been taken to a government hospital for treatment.

Early last week, two fleeing Boko Haram fighters were killed following a gun battle with government forces in the same part of Borno.

Nigeria has made considerable gains against the terror group, dislodging Boko Haram fighters from the Sambisa Forest, the group's largest training camp in the country, early this year.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacing of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.

source: Xinhua