Camp Bastion assault: Two US marines die in 'Taliban revenge'

[Crypto]

Insurgents have attacked Nato's heavily fortified Camp Bastion base in southern Afghanistan.

At least two US marines died when militants breached the perimeter of the sprawling base in Helmand province.

The Taliban told the BBC that they carried out the attack in revenge for a film mocking Islam which has triggered protests around the Muslim world.

Aircraft and buildings were damaged and Nato says a "clearance" operation is under way.

Camp Bastion is situated in the middle of the desert with excellent visibility all around, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Kabul.

It is extremely heavily fortified and serious questions will be asked about how militants were able to stage the brazen surprise assault.

The UK's Prince Harry began a second tour of duty at the base just over a week ago, but is said to be unharmed.

At least seven people died in protests over the film mocking the Prophet Muhammad in Khartoum, Tunis and Cairo on Friday and there are fears of further unrest.

For complete article BBC News - Camp Bastion assault: Two US marines die in 'Taliban revenge'

 

[Sashan]

RIP to the brave soldiers. I think their target was prince Harry.

 

[rohailmalhi]

RIP to the brave soldiers. I think their target was prince Harry.

Dont tell me you were the BBC correspondent who took interview of Taliban and on the side line of that interview they told u we were after prince harry as we know he will be guarding the main entrance gate of the base..........

 

[Sashan]

Dont tell me you were the BBC correspondent who took interview of Taliban and on the side line of that interview they told u we were after prince harry as we know he will be guarding the main entrance gate of the base..........

Do I need to be a BBC correspondent to express my personal opinion here?

 

[Crypto]

"Camp Bastion is situated in the middle of the desert with excellent visibility all around, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Kabul.

It is extremely heavily fortified and coalition forces are investigating how militants were able to stage the brazen surprise assault."

Important thing to know is, how they were able to penetrate such secure facility.

 

[Imran Khan]

Camp Bastion attack 'aimed at Harry' - Taliban

A Taliban spokesman tells Channel 4 News that an attack on Nato's base at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan which killed two US marines was aimed at Prince Harry, who is stationed there.
Prince Harry was the target of an attack on Camp Bastion the Taliban have told Channel 4 News (Getty)

The attack, by heavily-armed insurgents, happened overnight at the highly fortified base in southern Afghanistan. A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force coalition (Isaf) in Afghanistan said the assault occurred near an airfield on the north-east side of the base, which houses American forces in Camp Leatherneck.

The US said that two of its marines were killed and several more troops wounded after a man believed to be a member of the AFghan local police force turned his weapon on soldiers from Nato-led forces.

A number of aircraft and buildings at the base were hit by insurgent fire. There are no reports of any British fatalities, but a spokesman for the Helmand governor said 17 bodies had been discovered and they were all thought to be insurgents killed in the fighting.

Shortly afterwards, the Taliban claimed victory, saying that the attack was directed towards Prince Harry. Speaking to Channel 4 News, Qari Muhammad Yousaf, a Taliban spokesman, said: "When [Prince Harry] came again, our intelligence sources have passed on credible information to us about his possible locations and we launched attacks on the base, which has several sections.

"The US forces are present in one side, the British in another side, and one side is allocated for troops of other NATO countries.

"We knew that's where Prince Harry lives. That is why we used different tactics. We used attackers in several groups and they carried out operations in their targeted sections.

"Clashes continued for two hours and it expanded further."

'At any cost'

The spokesman's comments echoed earlier remarks made by the Taliban to Channel 4 News as Prince Harry was deployed to Afghanistan earlier this month.

Senior commanders said on the day of his deployment that they would use Afghan army recruits to either kidnap or assassinate him.

Today, the spokesman also said the assault on the biggest base of the Americans and British troops in southern Helmand province was also to take revenge for the anti-Islam film which has provoked unrest around the world.

The prince, whose 28th birthday is today, is safe.

 

[Kompromat]

It indeed was a very daring raid, there are reports of infrastructure and air craft damage too.

 

[Oldman1]

18 Taliban fighters were killed. But its not daring since they done it many times before. No different than attacking a Pakistani base.

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

Rest In Peace Marines!

 

[Crypto]

18 Taliban fighters were killed. But its not daring since they done it many times before. No different than attacking a Pakistani base.

Yes no different to any attack but they managed to breach air tight security, that is the odd one here.

 

[Crypto]

It indeed was a very daring raid, there are reports of infrastructure and air craft damage too.

Yes apparently 6 air assets were completely destroyed.

"KABUL: Six US fighter jets were destroyed and two significantly damaged when insurgents stormed a heavily fortified Afghan base where Britain's Prince Harry is deployed on Friday, a NATO spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Hagen Messer conceded that the scale of damage, carried out by more than a dozen attackers dressed in US Army uniforms and armed with guns, rockets and suicide vests who managed to storm the airfield, was unprecedented.

Three coalition refuelling stations were also destroyed and six aircraft hangars damaged in the assault at Camp Bastion in southern Helmand province, one of the toughest battlegrounds of the war, the US-led NATO force said.

In a statement, it said the attack was "well-coordinated" and carried out by around 15 insurgents, who were organised into three teams and who penetrated the perimeter fence. "The insurgents appeared to be well equipped, trained and rehearsed," targeting fighter jets and helicopters parked next to the runway, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in the statement released nearly 36 hours after the assault began."

Six US fighter jets destroyed in Prince Harry base attack - geo.tv

 

[Backbencher]

RIP brave souls

 

[Oldman1]

Yes no different to any attack but they managed to breach air tight security, that is the odd one here.

Actually they tried it before wearing uniforms of U.S. Army. That failed.

 

[Tshering22]

It indeed was a very daring raid, there are reports of infrastructure and air craft damage too.

You appreciate this raid?

Remember your own soldiers died facing something like this.

 

[Edevelop]

Remember your own soldiers died facing something like this.

In the Kamra attack 1 died but mission was accomplished with hardly any damage.
p.s Our soldiers took them out with an hour or two.