A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistantargeting a group of insurgents near the Pakistani border killed at least 12 militants Friday, the international military coalition said.

Pakistani intelligence and Afghan officials said Mullah Dadullah, the self-proclaimed leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan's Bajur tribal area was killed, although they offered conflicting reports on the exact location of the strike. NATO could not confirm that a senior militant had been killed.

Conflicting reports out of the rugged and remote regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border are common shortly after an attack.Kunar provincial official Aslam Gul Mujahid said the airstrike killed 20 people, including Dadullah. Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah and 19 others were killed, but they said the airstrike took place in Pakistan's Bajur region, just across the border from Kunar.

The Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said the strike occurred after a cross-border attack by Pakistani Taliban militants who came from Afghanistan.Two Pakistani militiamen also were killed, local tribesmen said on condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety.

The Pakistani intelligence officials said the militiamen and army soldiers fought the militants for hours but eventually repelled the attack.Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack on the outpost in a telephone call to The Associated Press.

It was unclear whether Pakistani and coalition officials coordinated the strike or whether NATO fired on the militants after noticing activity on the border.Pakistan has criticized Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces for not doing enough to stop cross-border attacks by Taliban militantsagainst targets inside Pakistan.Also in the east, authorities said Friday that insurgents kidnapped three Afghan soldiers and another man from a bus in eastern Afghanistan and killed all four.