James Bond actor Daniel Craig on Sunday surprised British servicemen at the Camp Bastion base in Afghanistan when he dropped in for a visit shortly before a screening of his new film "Skyfall".

Craig introduced the film to the 800 troops and then toured the camp, met soldiers and hospital patients before firing off some machine-gun rounds at the heavy weapons range, a Ministry of Defence statement said.

"We get quite a lot of visitors here, but having James Bond was special," said soldier Rob Ingham.

The critically-acclaimed new Bond movie swept North American box offices last week, taking in $88.4 million in its first weekend of release, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"It was great morale and the atmosphere in the tent when we were watching the film was buzzing," said soldier Shane Awbery. "The film was really good too."