Residents of Pakistan's ethnic North Waziristan Pashtun region accused government troops of killing dozens of civilians during a military operation against the Taliban.

The operation started after a December 18 suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in North Waziristan on Pakistan's mountainous border with Afghanistan.

Government attempts to engage the Pakistani Taliban in peace talks have floundered in recent months and speculation has been building that the army might launch a major offensive in the frontier tribal areas.

Military officials said at least 23 militants had been killed in clashes with security forces in the Mir Ali region of North Waziristan following the suicide attack.

Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew across the region and residents said that many people had fled from their homes after days of shelling and raids by helicopter gunships.

Residents put the civilian death toll at several dozen.

"From the first day of the attack until now, 70 civilians have been killed," said a tribal elder in Mir Ali.

"Some lorry drivers and hotel and shopkeepers were shot directly and dozens were killed by gunships, mortars and artillery shelling on the civilian population."

Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur warned that his forces would respond by launching a full-scale counter-offensive on army positions if the attacks against civilians did not stop immediately.

Residents said that bodies had been left in the open in the villages of Mosaki and Hasukhel as terrified villagers fled the area.

"We are moving our families to keep them safe but the army's mortars and shells are following us," said Asad Sher of Mir Ali.

"Please tell us where it is safe. The army is demolishing our homes and bazaars."

Malik Gul Salehjan, another man, said: "My children are asking for bread but I am not able to give them anything because there is nothing in my house."

A North Waziristan administration official said that tribal elders and army representatives convened a jirga for today to try to find a negotiated end to hostilities.

The Pashtun lands along the Afghan border have never been brought under full control by any government.