Nigerian security sources say they have defused an explosives-laden car abandoned near a school in the volatile northeastern city of Gombe.

On Monday, bomb experts detected improvised explosives in the car that was found near a secondary school, said Fwaje Attajiri, a police spokesman.

"Our ordnance experts discovered 12 IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in the trunk of the car left in the vicinity of the school after we were alerted," Attajiri noted.

"The explosives had the capacity of causing maximum damage and would have caused huge casualty had they detonated in the school with a high student population."

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the foiled bombing, but officials usually blame such attacks on the Boko Haram Takfiri militants.

Boko Haram has carried out deadly assaults on schools in the restive northeast of Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009.

The militants also abducted 276 schoolgirls from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok on April 14.

Reports say 57 of the girls managed to escape, but 219 are still missing and international efforts to spot and rescue them have failed so far.

The Nigerian government has been under intense pressure by many people around the globe especially the girls’ families to secure their release.

Boko Haram -- whose name means “Western education is forbidden” -- says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria in the last five year.