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An Afghan villager who saved the life of a Navy SEAL who was heavily injured in a firefight with the Taliban that left the rest of his unit dead has accused the soldier of embellishing his story.

Mohammed Gulab said there were far fewer insurgents attacking Marcus Luttrell's unit than the former SEAL claimed, and that he was found with all of his ammunition after the attack. 

Luttrell was the only one of four SEALs to survive the fierce battle with the Taliban in northeastern Afghanistan in June 2005.

Despite being shot twice, breaking his back and suffering serious injuries to his left leg following a grenade blast, Luttrell was able to crawl into a crevasse.

Sixteen more servicemen died when a helicopter carrying a rescue team was shot down as it searched for the SEALs. 

The next day, after leaving the hiding space in search of water, Luttrell was found by a group of Afghan villagers, including Gulab.

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Marcus Luttrell was the only one of four SEALs to survive a fierce battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan after he was saved by villager Mohammed Gulab (pictured together). Gulab has now accused of Luttrell of embellishing his story in his memoir and a movie based on it

Speaking through a translator to CBS's '60 Minutes' in 2013, Gulab said: 'I knew I had to help him; to do the right thing, because he was in a lot of danger.'

'He very well could have just left me laying there on the side of that waterfall and let me die,' Luttrell said. 'But he didn't.'

Luttrell was rescued by American forces and came home to the US, back to his native Texas.

His memoir and a film base on it, both called Lone Survivor, were huge hits, with the blockbuster movie starring Mark Wahlberg making $155million at the box office.

Meanwhile Gulab was left in Afghanistan, where he lived in fear of attacks from the Taliban and was the subject of a number of assassination attempts. 

He also lost relatives - including his nephew - to attacks from insurgents who considered his act of kindness to Luttrell betrayal.

Gulab and his family were eventually given refuge in the U.S., but according to Newsweek he is no longer in contact with the former Navy SEAL.

The Afghan has accused Luttrell of getting details about the Taliban attack on his unit wrong.

Gulab (left) said Luttrell's (right) estimate of how many insurgents attacked the SEALs was exaggerated

Luttrell claimed in his book that they were ambushed by the insurgents after deciding to spare goat herders who stumbled across them in the desert.

He claimed the herders must have informed the Taliban of their location, which led to them being found.

But while being interviewed by novelist Patrick Robinson, Gulab - who has never read Luttrell's version of events - said the SEALs were caught because their helicopter landing was heard for miles.

He added that the Taliban fighters found the men as they were deciding whether to kill or free the goat herders, and that the insurgents waited for the locals to leave before launching their attack.

Lutrell claimed there were between 80 and 200 militants firing at the four SEALs, saying 'we must have killed 50 or more of them'.

Lutrell (pictured third from right, with fellow SEALs) claimed there were between 80 and 200 militants firing at the four SEALs, saying 'we must have killed 50 or more of them'

But Gulab said a lower Naval Special Warfare Command estimate of 35 Taliban fighters killed in the firefight was still far too high, adding that villagers and US forces looked for the bodies of insurgents killed and could not find any.

Luttrell also said that he and his group almost ran out of ammunition, and that he took 11 full rounds with him on the day of the battle.

But Gulab told Robinson that Luttrell still had 11 magazines with him when he was rescued by the villagers the next day. 

Newsweek pointed out that Luttrell has previously made errors when describing the day his three fellow servicemen were slain.

He called the operation Redwing, when it was actually called Red Wings, journalist Ed Darack said in his book, Victory Point.

Luttrell's claim that the mission was to hunt down a key ally of Osama bin Laden was also proven to be wrong by Darack. 

The SEALs' intended target was Ahmed Shah, the head of a local Taliban-linked group.

Movie material: Here Mark Walhberg (left) plays Luttrell and Ali Suliman (center) plays Gulab in the 2013 movie

Darack said it was more likely the elite unit were attacked by 10 or fewer insurgents. 

Patrick Kinser, who worked on Operation Red Wings and is a former Marine, told Newsweek that Luttrell's claims were 'exaggerated nonsense'. 

'I've been at the location where he was ambushed multiple times. I've had Marines wounded there. I've been in enough firefights to know that when s**t hits the fan, it's hard to know how many people are shooting at you. There weren't 35 enemy fighters in all of the Korengal Valley,' he said.

Gulab claimed he brought up the discrepancies with Luttrell, which infuriated the former soldier. 

A lawyer for Luttrell said he stood by his account in Lone Survivor, which is 'absolutely true'.