An American soldier was killed inside Pakistan yesterday after an attempted peace meeting on one of the world’s most sensitive borders erupted in gunfire.

Several other Nato troops were wounded amid sensational claims that Pakistani forces were responsible. Pakistan said that one of its troops also died in the clash, but blamed militants for the shooting.

The meeting had been convened after two days of skirmishes across the border with Afghanistan left 13 dead. US and Afghan forces had travelled by helicopter into the lawless tribal area to meet their Pakistani counterparts.

General Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry, claimed that a Pakistani army officer jumped up and shot at US troops during the heated negotiations.

“The meeting became tense and one of the Pakistani officers stood up and opened fire on the American and Afghan delegates,” General Azimi told reporters in Kabul. “The Americans and Afghan soldiers returned fire and killed some Pakistani soldiers.”

Pakistan denied General Azimi’s version of events, saying that those at the meeting had come under fire from unknown “miscreants” – the term Islamabad uses for militants – after it had ended. Nato confirmed that there had been an incident with casualties and that it was investigating.

The incident and the conflicting versions of what happened underline the diplomatic sensitivities involved in Islamabad – a key US ally since the 9/11 terrorist attacks – explaining how an American soldier came to die on its soil. Nato and Pakistani officials said that the incident occurred near Teri Mangel in the Pakistani Kurram tribal region. Pakistan said that one of its troops had also died in the clash.

Rahmattullah Rahmad, the governor of the Afghan province of Paktia, which lies opposite the Kurram region, offered a slightly different explanation. He said that he and a number of US and Afghan troops were flown to the border by helicopter. After discussions with their Pakistani counterparts they were returning to the helicopters when they were fired upon by a Pakistani soldier, he said.

Pakistan announced that it would launch a high-level inquiry into the shooting.

In a separate development the Taleban’s leadership council, led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, announced that it had appointed Mullah Bakht Mohammad, the younger brother of Mullah Dadullah, to replace him. Dadullah, the Taleban’s senior field commander in Afghanistan, was killed in a battle in Helmand on Saturday.

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