TWO US Marines were killed and several more troops wounded in an attack on the Camp Bastion military compound in Afghanistan .

A US official said the attack last night at the base in Helmand province in the south of the country was by heavily-armed insurgents and involved a range of weaponry, possibly including mortars, rockets or rocket-propelled grenades, as well as small arms fire.

Early indications were that it was on the north-east side of the base, which houses American forces in Camp Leatherneck.

There are no reports of any British fatalities.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman in London said: "We are aware of an incident that has taken place at Camp Bastion, which is currently being dealt with."

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force coalition (Isaf) in Afghanistan said: "I can confirm there was an attack involving small arms fire."

The US official said the attack, near an airfield, had killed two marines and wounded several troops. A number of aircraft and buildings at the base were hit by insurgent fire.

The official said: "The attack is long over and now UK and US forces are in the process of conducting an assessment to discover the extent of the damage and go through the camp to make sure everything is secure."

Prince Harry is currently based at Camp Bastion on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, which is due to last four months.

The Army captain, who celebrates his 28th birthday today, arrived in the war-torn country last Friday.

He has been undergoing training to fly operations in Apache attack helicopters and is expected to start flying missions this week as co-pilot gunner.

Sources have confirmed that the Prince was on the Camp Bastion base at the time of the attack, but was unharmed and never in any danger.

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 Helmand province.