PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in a northwestern Pakistani town Thursday after residents prevented their entry into the area, police said.

The militants from Swat valley, a hotbed of Islamic extremists, entered into the nearby town of Upper Dir but people from the area chased them away, local police officer Johar Ali told AFP.

'The militants entered into a school building but failed to get shelter,' he said.

No children were injured in the incursion.

The pair then tried to take refuge in a forest where an exchange of gunfire took place, and later detonated the explosives strapped to their body, he said.

'The militants ... were suspected suicide bombers,' said another police officer Khurshid Khan.

Swat has experienced numerous clashes and bombings since radical pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region last year.