2 US Marines killed by Taliban in attack on British air base in Afghanistan

(Fox News) Two Marines were killed when Afghan militants armed with rocket propelled grenades and small arms breached the perimeter of the main U.S. Marine base in southern Afghanistan not long ago, following a rocket and mortar attack on the base that is shared with British forces.

Army Maj. Martyn Crighton, a spokesman at International Security Assistance Force's Joint Command, said the attack on Camp Bastion/ Camp Leatherneck may still be ongoing. There are at least two fatalities and a number of wounded. The base took indirect and small arms fire, causing major damage to buildings, an aircraft hangar and several military jets.

The base is a major military facility in the war-ravaged nation's Helmand province.

This facility is often subject to indirect fire, but officials in Afghanistan say the damage that has resulted is far more severe than normal. The attacks came during a period of intense protests and violence elsewhere in the Middle East. Officials in Afghanistan said it is too early to know if this attack was motivated by the anti-Islamic YouTube movie that recently went viral on the Internet.