Camp Bastion, a sprawling, well-fortified British-run base in the desert in southern Afghanistan, is the size of the UK town of Reading and home to almost 30,000 people. Bastion - with its own water bottling plant, hospital, police force and even Pizza Hut - is widely regarded as a safe haven for troops. However, a Taliban attack breaching the perimeter and resulting in the death of two US Marines has shown it is not impregnable.

What's it like inside Camp Bastion? Explore the graphical representation of the base below to find out.

Note: For security reasons, the main image and video tour of Camp Bastion are graphical representations of the base and not accurate plans

How big is the base? If you are in the UK then use our tool to get a rough idea of the size of Camp Bastion. Enter your postcode to see the base laid over your neighbourhood eg W12 7RJ. It only works with UK postcodes.

POSTCODE it would cover this area If Camp Bastion was overlaid on Reading it would cover this area Size of Camp Bastion 24 September 2012 Source: MoD

Note: Outline represents the approximate area of Camp Bastion and does not reflect its precise dimensions

Source: UK Ministry of Defence, Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, news agencies, BBC correspondents