Prince Harry killed Taliban in southern Afghanistan 'to save lives'
Prince, first royal to serve in war zone in 25 years, enjoyed mucking in 'as one of the guys'
Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, who has just ended a deployment with the army in Afghanistan, said he killed Taliban fighters there to "take a life to save a life".
The prince, 28, a gunner in Apache helicopters, said he had taken the enemy "out of the game" during his stint. He served in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, supporting allied troops fighting the Taliban at close quarters and accompanying British Chinook and US Black Hawk helicopters on casualty evacuation missions.
"Yeah, so lots of people have," he told reporters after being asked if he had killed in action, in remarks distributed on Monday by the Press Association newswire upon his return to Britain.
"Take a life to save a life," the prince said. "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."
Killing the enemy was not what motivated him to become an attack helicopter pilot, he said. Serving in Afghanistan made him the first royal to fight in a war zone in more than 25 years.
"It's not the reason I decided to do this job," the prince said. "The reason to do this job was to get back out here and carry on with a job."