Nigerian schoolgirls: Would-be suicide bomber is not one of Chibok students abducted by Boko Haram, says NGO

But the 12-year-old girl says she was abducted from the town of Bama by the terror group last year

Boko Haram kidnapped 275 girls from Chibok in April 2014 (AFP)

A suspected suicide bomber intercepted in northern Cameroon is not one of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, an African NGO has said.

There are 219 girls still missing out of the 270 abducted from their school in Chibok by the militant group in an incident which sparked international outrage and a campaign for their safe return.

Military and local government sources said that one of two females caught by local defence forces in Limani near the Nigerian border on Saturday before they could carry out a suicide attack had claimed to be one of the missing students

The Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) partnered with the Nigerian government and parents of the schoolgirls to verify the girl's identity.

The mother of one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls at a rally pressing for their rescue in Abuja last year (AFP)

MMF chief Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode said three representatives of the parents of the missing students looked at photographs of the girl and a woman she was arrested with, but said they "do not fit the description of any of the missing daughters from Chibok".

She said the Nigerian government told her group on Tuesday that the girl identified herself as a 12-year-old originally from Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, who was abducted from Bama about 60 km (40 miles) away, when the town was overrun by Boko Haram a year ago.

Around 7,000 people from Bama briefly fled to refugee camps just outside of Maidugiri to escape the militants before it was liberated by the Nigerian army.

The woman with the young girl identified herself as a 35-year-old mother of two.

Ms Muhammad-Oyebode said the pair had been handed over to the Nigerian military and were being sent back to the country.

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was criticised for his slow reaction to the Chibok kidnappings, which was seen by some as indicative of his response to Boko Haram, which at its strongest held large swathes of northeastern Nigeria.

The girl's companions blew themselves up in the Dikwa Camp, in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 58 (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

President Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated Mr Jonathan in an election last year, ordered a new investigation into the abductions in January.

Joint operations between Nigeria and neighbouring countries drove Boko Haram from many of its strongholds last year but the group has stepped up cross-border attacks and suicide bombings, many of which have been carried out by young girls.

Last month, a teenage girl ripped off her suicide vest and fled from her handlers when she was sent to blow up the Dikwa refugee camp in northeastern Nigeria.

Her two companions went through with the plan and killed at least 58 people.

Additional reporting by Reuters