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Islamabad: Video footage of the skirmish along the Afghan-Pakistan border that resulted in the death of 11 Pakistani soldiers was released by the US-led coalition on Thursday.
Pakistan on Wednesday blamed the US-led coalition for the "completely unprovoked and cowardly act".
However, US officials gave a strikingly different account of what occurred and released the footage to support their version.
The video, shot by a surveillance drone circling above, shows about a half-dozen men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at coalition troops who were on a scouting mission.
The video voiceover says the coalition forces returned fire as they tried to move to safety. The militants then moved to a position said to be within Pakistan and the voiceover says a bomb killed two of them.
Three more bombs were dropped targeting any survivors nearly three hours after the clash began, the video shows.
The US Defence Department said it was too early to know whether the strike killed the 11 Pakistani troops.
"Every indication we have is that this was a legitimate strike against forces that had attacked members of the coalition," he said.
However, the Pakistani military said the fighting broke out after Afghan government soldiers who had occupied a mountaintop position in a disputed border zone acceded to a Pakistan request to withdraw.
"They were on their way back and they were attacked by insurgents in their own territory," Abbas said.
He said the Afghans then called in coalition airstrikes, which hit the Pakistani Frontier Corps post across the border.
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