claims According to Afghan and US officials, the incident started after US-Afghan coalition forces, which were conducting an operation against the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province, were fired upon from border positions within Pakistan. "There was firing coming from the position against Afghan army soldiers who requested support", said one Afghan official in Kabul. The Afghan official further stated they were being fired upon directly from a Pakistani military outpost itself. A Western official backed up that view by stating, "They were fired on from a Pakistani army base." And, "It was a defensive action." According to Afghan and US accounts helicopters were then called in for support against the incoming fire. A Pakistani defence official reportedly admitted that soldiers in the Pakistani border post sitting there for the express purpose of stopping infiltration fired a few flares, a couple of mortar rounds and one or two bursts of machine-gun fire in that direction. Another US official in Kabul pointed to an incident in September 2010, when a NATO helicopter fired on a Pakistan outpost, killing two soldiers. "It was a situation where insurgent forces butted right up against a Pakistani border post and used that as a firing position. When we fired back, we hit Pakistani security forces. Military officials in Kabul claimed insurgents in Pakistan have also used empty Pakistan border bases to stage attacks, which they say may have been the working assumption of the coalition forces who called in the airstrike when they drew fire. One US official said NATO forces had informed the Pakistani army's 11th Corps command near the western border that operations against Taliban insurgents would take place on that day. Pakistani General Abbas admitted in a press conference that coalition forces had "informed our military earlier, much earlier, that they will be conducting an operation there." According to the US military, information about the proposed strike was passed on at one of the centres on the border where both sides station officers and exchange information in an effort to avoid firing on each other, after which Pakistani officers cleared the strike, saying that there were no Pakistani forces in the area. Pakistani claims The incident sparked outrage and controversy in Pakistan, which termed the attack an "unprovoked and indiscriminate firing," an "irresponsible act," and a "stark violation" of its sovereignty. Leaders of the Pakistani military establishment viewed NATO's attacks on