The Taliban claimed responsibility on Saturday for a Pakistani helicopter crash that killed 26 security personnel, as helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts in the northwest.
The Pakistani military dismissed the Taliban claim, repeating an earlier statement that the crash was caused by a "technical fault".
The MI-17 helicopter crashed Friday on the border of the rugged semi-autonomous Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions and officials said nobody survived.
Meanwhile, helicopters shelled suspected hideouts in Orakzai, said Wajid Ali, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
"At least seven militants were killed in the shelling," a military spokesman said. The helicopters targeted and destroyed three militant bases, he added.
Orakzai is believed to have been infiltrated by militants loyal to the Pakistani Taliban.
"We shot down the helicopter," a spokesman for Taliban insurgents based in the nearby Darra Adam Khel region told the news agency AFP by telephone.
The spokesman, identifying himself as Muhammad, said the helicopter had been targeted in retaliation for the Pakistani military operation in South Waziristan, a stronghold of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
A military spokesman denied insurgents were responsible.
"Taliban militants frequently make false claims," he said.
"All 26 people on board died and the wreckage of the helicopter has been removed," he said, adding that an inquiry had been ordered.
The crash happened 20 km from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), an official said Friday.
Pakistan has been fighting a two-month battle to dislodge militants in three districts of the northwest.
The United States has welcomed the military push to clear out Taliban havens and put Pakistan at the heart of its war against Al Qaeda and efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
About 2,000 people have died in bombings in Pakistan since July 2007.
The Pakistani military has also launched air raids in the tribal belt to prepare for a second front against insurgents in South Waziristan, a stronghold of feared warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
Military and government officials have vowed to track down and eliminate the warlord blamed for a wave of deadly blasts in Pakistan in the past two years, offering a $615,000 reward for information leading to his capture, dead or alive.
Fighter jets have been pounding suspected insurgent hideouts in South and North Waziristan, where the military says it is preparing for a full-scale offensive.
Nine members of a pro-government tribal militia, known as Lashkar, were killed in a clash with militants in the tribal region of Mohmand overnight, officials said.
Three militants were also killed in the clash, they said.
Fighting in Pakistan's tribal belt follows two months of assaults to root out the Taliban from three districts of NWFP.
Commanders say those assaults are nearly over but sporadic fighting has continued and many areas have been devastated by the offensive, leaving it unclear how an estimated two million displaced people can easily return home.
The Pakistani military says more than 1,600 militants have been killed since late April in the districts of Swat and Dir.
Death tolls released by Pakistan are impossible to confirm independently because fighting takes place in closed military zones and the army has faced scepticism about the death toll figures.holed up in South Waziristan.