Pakistani troops fired at American reconnaissance helicopters patrolling along the Afghan-Pakistan border on Thursday, but there was no damage to aircraft or crew, officials said.

'They were U.S. helicopters,' Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters at a briefing.

'The flight path of the helicopters at no point took them over Pakistan.'

Whitman said U.S. and NATO military officials were speaking to their Pakistani counterparts to determine what happened and to ensure there was no recurrence, adding: 'The Pakistanis have to provide us with a better understanding of why this took place.'

The shooting in the volatile region follows a number of alleged border incidents in recent days.

The two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, known as Kiowas, were on a routine patrol Thursday in the eastern province of Khost when they received small arms fire from a Pakistani border post, said Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, a U.S. military spokesman.

'They did not cross the border and they did not fire back', Wallace said.

U.S. forces and Pakistan's military 'are working together to resolve the matter,' a NATO statement said.

Pakistan's military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Pakistan's military was awaiting a full report from Afghanistan on the incident.

'We are getting it investigated,' he said.

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Two military officials said that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala checkpoint, about 2.5 kilometres from the Afghan border.

The attack took place around 2 a.m. in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.

A senior Pakistani military officer said efforts were under way to bring the bodies of the slain soldiers to Ghalanai, the headquarters of Mohmand tribal region.

“The latest attack by Nato forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outpost, military sources said.

Two officers were reported among the dead.

Nato supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said.

“We have halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud,” Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters.