MINGORA, Pakistan, July 06, 2010, SPA -- Pakistani forces killed 23 militants early on Tuesday in fighting that erupted after insurgents fired on troops during a search operation in the country's northwest, police and intelligence officials said. The search was launched after a suicide bomb attack on a paramilitary fort in Lower Dir district. "The fighting began when miscreants opened fire on troops searching the area after reports of militant movement there," Dir's top police chief, Mumtaz Zireen, told Reuters. Zireen said 23 militants were killed in the pre-dawn exchange of fire in the Maidan area. --SPA 11:53 LOCAL TIME 08:53 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/799435