New in this version: Prince not involved

Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET: Two U.S. members of the NATO force in Southern Afghanistan were killed and several others were wounded Friday night in a complex attack on the U.S. Marine half of Camp Bastion/Leatherneck — the same camp where Britain's Prince Harry is based — U.S. and NATO officials told NBC News.

NATO officials said that Prince Harry was on the base at the time, but "never in any danger," Reuters reported.

AP file

Prince Harry at Camp Bastion/Leatherneck in Afghanistan last weekend. Initial reports were that he wasn't involved in the fighting that killed two U.S. members of the NATO force stationed there.

All of the casualties appeared to be Americans, NATO officials said.

The Leatherneck half of the joint NATO operations center in Helmand Province is home to members of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, which serves as the southwest regional command.

The attack, involving small arms and mortars, was launched against the International Security Assistance Force shortly after midnight local time (3 p.m. ET). Casualty assessments were still under way, but Camp Leatherneck took the brunt of the attack, officials said.

British defense officials told reporters only that they were "aware of an incident" at the base and that "the incident is being dealt with."

The Taliban launched what it called the "Harry Operations" on Monday, threatening to do everything in its power to kill Prince Harry, 27, who is third in line to the British throne, after British forces announced his four-month deployment to Camp Bastion.

Apart from the significance of the prince's being based there, the attack is notable as the worst yet on Camp Bastion/Leatherneck.

In March, a civilian Afghan worker tried to assassinate U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta by driving his car into Panetta's plane as it arrived at the camp. The assailant died from burns; a British serviceman was injured.

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