Rockets have been fired at a Royal Marines base in Afghanistan housing about 50 troops - but missed by about one kilometre.

No-one was injured in the incident, which occurred as the marines prepared to end their Operation Condor search for al-Qaeda and Taleban fugitives in eastern Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence said the rockets were targeted at a forward base, south of Gardez - about 200km south of Kabul near the Pakistan border.

An MoD spokesman said: "There was inaccurate firing towards the forward operating base that the Royal Marines have been using.

"There were no casualties and the rocket landed about 1km east of the base last night. At least one rocket was fired."

The base was south of Gardez

Media spokesman Lieutenant Jamie Summers, speaking from Afghanistan, said: "Two rounds were fired over the top of a forward operating base, a staging post for the troops between Bagram and the area of operations.

"The rockets landed about a kilometre away. It was quite a big miss.

"We didn't look for the firing position because the fog was closing and we withdrew from the area as had been planned.

"Morale remains extremely high with the troops," he added.

'Successful' mission

Operation Condor was launched to search for fighters who attacked Australian troops for four hours in the mountains near the Pakistan border.

The operation found no al-Qaeda or Taleban fighters but officials described it as a success.

It was the third sweep led by the British troops at Bagram. Operations Ptarmigan and Snipe, conducted in April and May, also did not find any al-Qaeda or Taleban fighters.

In Britain controversy recently blew up over the role of Brigadier Roger Lane, the Royal Marines' commander in Afghanistan.

'Hyped up'

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said he had "complete confidence" in the commander, who was doing a "tremendous job".

There was recent controversy over Brigadier Lane

The MoD said no inferences should be drawn from the fact he was being moved from his job - which was an administrative move planned months ago.

Defence officials had reportedly claimed that Brigadier Lane had lost the confidence of politicians and others, over disagreements between UK and US commanders on tactics being used to hunt down the fighters.

Mr Hoon also denied claims by Labour and Conservative former defence ministers, that the involvement of British soldiers in Afghanistan had been "hyped up".