Dozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed as Pakistani military jets targeted the positions of tribal fighters in North Waziristan, residents say.

A military spokesman said that "militant hideouts" were targeted in Tuesday's air raids but local residents said a market had been hit killing dozens of people.

At least 250 people, including 47 soldiers, have died in four days of fighting in the tribal region.

On Wednesday, thousands of tribesmen gathered in the village of Epi to bury 50 people killed when about one dozen explosions destroyed shops and homes, residents said.

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Abdul Sattar, a grocery shop owner, told the Associated Press news agency earlier that he had counted more than 60 dead and 150 injured after the bombings.

"Some did not have heads, hands or legs," Sattar said.

Residents of the village, about 4km from the town of Mir Ali where the fighting has been centred, said they were continuing to pull bodies from the rubble.

'Militant targets'

"The strikes were conducted on militant targets and 50 militants were killed," Major General Waheed Arshad, a military spokesman, said on Wednesday.

The tribal fighters were using civilian homes to launch attacks on the security forces, he said.