Taliban claims responsibility for attack that killed two US Marines

Group says motive was revenge for anti-Islam film; perpetrators may have been targeting UK’s Prince Harry

The Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack on a British base in southern Afghanistan that killed two US Marines and wounded several other troops, saying it was retribution for an anti-Islam film that has spawned violent protests throughout the Muslim world.

The US-led NATO military coalition says it is assessing damage to the sprawling Camp Bastion base, adjacent to Camp Leatherneck which houses US Marine operations in southern Helmand province.

Lt. Col. Stewart Upton, a spokesman at Camp Leatherneck, and Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor, said that 16 Taliban fighters were also killed.

Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, was two kilometers (a little over one mile) away from the site of the attack and was uninjured, according to Britain’s Press Association.

Earlier this week, the Taliban announced it was doing everything in its power to either kill or kidnap the young royal.