Harry 'should stay' in Afghanistan
Prince Harry should not be withdrawn from his military role in Afghanistan despite an attack on the Camp Bastion military compound, defence experts said today.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday night's attack, saying it was carried out because Harry was on the base and in revenge for an anti-Islamic film.
The Prince was unharmed, but two US Marines were killed and several more wounded.
Libby Weiner reports
A British soldier from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards was killed by a roadside bomb in an unrelated incident on Friday. He died when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.
Next of kin have been told.
Harry, an Army captain, is based at Camp Bastion for his second tour of duty, due to last four months.
US officials said the attack was by heavily-armed insurgents and involved a range of weaponry, including mortars, rockets or rocket-propelled grenades, as well as small arms fire.
The Prince was about two kilometres away with other crew members of the Apache attack helicopters, of which he is a co-pilot gunner, when the attack took place, sources said.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, told The Associated Press:
Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart, a former commander of British troops in Bosnia, said he did not think the Prince should be pulled out of Afghanistan because of the attack by the Taliban.
Major Charles Heyman, a former infantry officer and editor of The Armed Forces of the United Kingdom publication, warned against the dangers of "playing into the hands of the Taliban".
The International Security Assistance Force coalition (Isaf) in Afghanistan said the attack happened near an airfield on the north-east side of the base, which houses American forces in Camp Leatherneck.
A number of aircraft, hangars and other buildings were hit and badly damaged.
An anti-Islamic film sparked a series of protests and violence across the Muslim world this week.
Harry, who celebrates his 28th birthday today, arrived in Afghanistan on September 7.
He has been undergoing training to fly operations in Apache attack helicopters and is expected to start flying missions this week as a co-pilot gunner.
Camp Bastion is a huge base in the middle of the desert and is shared with US, Estonian, Danish and Afghan troops.
It is the logistics hub for operations in Helmand, with supply convoys and armoured patrols regularly leaving its heavily-defended gates, to support the military forward operating bases, patrol bases and checkpoints spread across the province.