Prince Harry Kills Taliban Insurgents During Tour of Afghanistan, He Admits

Prince Harry admitted to killing Taliban insurgents during his four-month tour-of-duty in Afghanistan, saying that as an Apache helicopter pilot, he took enemy fighters "out of the game."

As a co-pilot gunner in the attack helicopters in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Prince Harry, 28, was in control of deadly rockets, missiles and a 30mm cannon, according to Mirror. He now returns to the United Kingdom after completing his second deployment in Afghanistan and when asked if he had killed any Afghan enemies, he answered, "Yeah, so lots of people have."

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"The squadron's been out here. Everyone's fired a certain amount," he added. "Take a life to save a life. That's what we revolve around, I suppose. If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game, I suppose."

During his time in Afghanistan, Prince Harry, nicknamed "Captain Wales" in the army, accompanied U.S. Black Hawk helicopters on casualty evacuation missions and allied troops fighting Taliban in close quarters, among other things. He clarified that killing the enemy was not his motivation for becoming an attack helicopter pilot. He said, "it's not the reason I decided to do this job."

"But it's not just about the shooting, it's about giving the effect to the [enemy] guys on the ground, and that's not always pulling the trigger," he noted.

Prince Harry's welcome into Afghanistan was not a warm one. On Sept. 15, the Taliban attacked his base at Camp Bastion in southeast Afghanistan less than a week after he the team arrived in the country, according to "Good Morning America." Fifteen Taliban fighters dressed in U.S. Army uniforms stored the base and killed two U.S. Marines, wounding nine others, including one civilian. 

Prince Harry was away from the base at the time and was not in danger but commented on it to the press. 

"Obviously the papers back home were 'Ooh, this is all against me.' No one really knows yet, but I think it was more towards the book and the Americans," he said. "Either way this camp is in the middle of Afghanistan and we should expect to be attacked at any point. The guys dealt with it really well and it was on my birthday so it was a bit of a reality check.''