Insurgents have attacked Nato's heavily fortified Camp Bastion base in southern Afghanistan.
At least two US marines died when militants breached the perimeter of the sprawling base in Helmand province.
The Taliban told the BBC that they carried out the attack in revenge for a film mocking Islam which has triggered protests around the Muslim world.
Aircraft and buildings were damaged but Nato says its forces killed 18 of the insurgents and captured one.
Later on Saturday, a man thought to be a member of the Afghan local police force opened fire on Nato troops in the south of the country, killing two foreign soldiers.
The Taliban say that the motive for the attack was the film that has outraged the Muslim world. But they also claim that they chose Bastion, at least in part, because the base is where Britain's Prince Harry is stationed as an Apache helicopter pilot.
Nato insists Captain Wales, as the prince is known, was never in any danger, but there will be concerns about his security. However, there is no suggestion that his deployment will be curtailed. I have been told he was more than a kilometre away from the fighting.
The bigger question is how were the Taliban able to penetrate a secure military base. The UK's Ministry of Defence concedes this was a significant attack but the bottom line is that the insurgents should never have got so far.
The nationalities of the dead soldiers have not been
made public. A statement from the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf)
said the attacker was killed when troops returned fire.
The incident means 47 Isaf members have died this year at the hands of Afghan military or police personnel, or by insurgents posing as them.
Brigadier General Gunter Katz, ISAF, said they were looking at how the Taliban managed to attack the base
The attack was finally fought off by mainly American and British personnel who "ended up killing 18 of those attackers", he said.
Isaf said one of the attackers was also wounded and subsequently captured during the assault.
The camp is home to troops from several countries and the assault hit the adjoining US compound, Camp Leatherneck.
In addition to those killed, several other international troops were wounded in the raid.
What is Camp Bastion?
- Major transit centre with a large airfield, accommodates 28,000 mostly British personnel
- Set up in 2006, now covers an area of about eight square miles
- A logistical support centre for frontline troops, it also has a substantial field hospital
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the BBC that
the target was US and UK soldiers.
In a later statement the Taliban said "tens" of fighters had been involved. It said the base was "engulfed in fire and covered in heavy smoke".
It threatened "further retaliation throughout the country" for the "insult towards the beloved Prophet of Islam" carried in the film.
The UK's defence ministry said the incident had been "contained with a number of insurgents killed as a result".
It said that a "clearance operation is being conducted
and we are in the process of accounting for our people".
Our correspondent says that suggests the fighting is over and Nato forces will be making sure no Taliban are hiding and all Nato personnel are present.
Camp Bastion has a high level of security and is one of the world's busiest airports because of the heavy helicopter and plane traffic.
Earlier this year, a member of Nato forces was injured when an Afghan man drove a pick-up truck onto the runway, which then burst into flames, during a visit by US defence secretary Leon Panetta.
But successful head-on attacks by insurgents that penetrate the perimeter fence, which is protected by hi-tech detection systems, are rare.
Nato told Reuters news agency that Prince Harry was on the base at the time of the attack but was "never in any danger".
The Taliban have previously threatened to target Prince Harry during his stay at Camp Bastion.
Their statement after the attack specifically referred to his presence there.
There are fears of a surge in violence in Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign forces by 2014.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19608561
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