Afghanistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility on Saturday for an attack on a base which US officials said killed two American Marines, saying it was in response to a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad.
Camp Bastion, in southern Helmand province, came under mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire late on Friday in an attack in which several servicemen were wounded.
“The aim of this attack was revenge against Americans for the anti-Prophet movie,” said Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf.
US President Barack Obama has vowed to “stand fast” against violence which has spread since the amateurish film of obscure origin triggered an attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans on September 11, the eleventh anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.
Britain’s Prince Harry was at Camp Bastion at the time of Friday’s attack, but was unharmed.
Earlier this week, the Afghan Taliban said they were doing everything in their power to either kill or kidnap Queen Elizabeth’s grandson in what they dubbed their “Harry Operations.”
“Prince Harry was never in any danger,” Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said, adding that it would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.
