Prince Harry Celebrates 28th Birthday After Taliban Attack in Afghanistan
Prince Harry might be celebrating his 28th birthday today under a bit more stress than usual as he was the target of a Taliban attack in Afghanistan.
The Friday night attack took place on the Camp Bastion military compound in Afghanistan where one spokesperson for the Taliban told Sky News that the prince was the main target. Other spokespeople for the Taliban have reported that the focus of the attack was to get revenge for "The Innocence of Muslims", the anti-Islamic film sparking outrage all across the Muslim world.
US officials have stated that the attack was carried out by heavily-armed insurgents with a variety of weaponry to include small-arms, mortars, and rockets. It took place near Camp Leatherneck, a portion of the north-east side of the base housing American troops. The casualties included two US marines with many more people wounded with large amounts of damage all across the base.
Major Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force coalition (Isaf), said: "Nobody would deny that the insurgents are opportunistic. Isaf's facilities are very safe places, it just so happens that last night insurgents were able to make a spectacle of themselves and cause some damage.
Major Crighton said that there was no evidence of an imminent threat and it's still unclear if the attack was based on opportunity of planned ahead of time.
Prince Harry arrived in Afghanistan on September 7 where he serves as an army captain. He is currently on his second tour of duty based out of Camp Bastion, a large desert base shared with international troops from US, Estonian, Denmark and Afghanistan.
Sources have stated that the prince was around two kilometers away from the attack where he has been training for flight operations in Apache attack helicopters and is expected to begin flying as a co-pilot gunner this week.
