Local residents flee from a troubled area Tuesday in Bannu near Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistani aircraft bombed a village bazar near the Afghan border, killing more than 50 suspected militants and civilians and wounding scores of others during the most deadly fighting.

Miran Shah, Pakistan ? Pakistani aircraft bombed a village bazaar packed with shoppers near the Afghan border Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 250 in four days of fighting – the deadliest clashes since Pakistan threw its support behind the U.S.-led war on terror in 2001.

The attack on Epi village in North Waziristan tribal region killed dozens of militants and civilians – deaths that are likely to harden domestic opposition to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s alliance with Washington.

The bazaar was crowded with people buying food to break their daylong Ramadan fast when it was rocked by a dozen explosions that destroyed shops and nearby homes, residents said. Abdul Sattar, a grocery shop owner, said he counted more than 60 dead and more than 150 wounded, including many civilians. Many of the victims were mutilated.

“Some did not have heads, hands or legs. Some people were searching for their children and women,” Sattar told The Associated Press by telephone from Epi.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said military aircraft targeting militant hideouts struck “one or two places” near the town of Mir Ali – located about 2 1/2 miles from Epi – and local tribesmen reported about 50 militants were killed.

He said the airstrikes might have killed some civilians who were living in the areas where militant hideouts were targeted, but he had no exact numbers.

“We had confirmed reports about the presence of militants, and the air power was used to target those militant hideouts,” he told the AP.

Another resident, Noor Hassan, said both militants and civilians were killed and that he was fleeing the area. He said the nearby village of Hader Khel also was bombed.

The fighting broke out in North Waziristan on Saturday after a roadside bomb hit a truckload of paramilitary troops, sparking bitter clashes. The bodies of dozens of soldiers, many with their throats slit, have been recovered from deserted areas of the region, fleeing residents said.

The violence comes as Musharraf tries to secure another term as president, vowing to shore up Pakistan’s effort against Islamic extremism, particularly in its border regions where Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are suspected to hide.

Pakistani troops have suffered mounting losses as they try to reassert state authority in a swath of mountainous territory where warlords supportive of the Taliban and al-Qaida have seized control. Now the army appears to be resorting to heavy firepower.

Sattar, the shop owner, accused the army of “oppressing” the local Pashtun tribespeople. He said journalists should visit the area so they could see that the “miscreants” – a byword in Pakistan for militants – targeted by security forces were in fact women and children.