It's out of the frying pan and into the firing line for Prince Harry.
The third-in-line to the throne, who left behind the naked Vegas pictures scandal and touched down in Afghanistan on Friday morning to begin a four-month tour of duty as an Apache helicopter pilot with the job of 'killing insurgents', has been issued with a specific death threat by the Taliban.
Describing 27-year-old prince as a "high-value target", a Taliban spokesman said the group will "make their best efforts to arrest or kill" him.Duh? Isn't that kinda the whole point of war? To kill and capture the other guy?The statement by the Taliban does, however, confirm the long-held suspicion that the Taliban will seek to use Harry's presence on Afghan soil as a rallying call for insurgents.
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Captain Wales, as Harry is known in the army, is being deployed in southern province of Helmand, one of the bloodiest war zones in the 10-year-old conflict, however military top brass have decided not to seek to prevent publication of details of his deployment because not one Apache helicopter has been lost in the war thus far.He will be based at the heavily fortified Camp Bastion at Helmand.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: "Whoever is fighting in our country alongside the US is our enemy and we will attack him."Prince Harry came to Afghanistan and he is a high value target for us. We will try to arrest him. Because he is an Apache helicopter pilot, he will target us more. If we are not able to arrest him we will target him," he said.The new 'kill notice' on Harry by Taliban comes just two days after the Taliban had dismissed his deployment as a propaganda stunt, saying it was designed to divert attention from his escapades in US.The Prince is to complete training courses this week in first aid, shooting and improvised explosive device awareness, before starting his Apache-specific preparation. During this phase of training, which starts today, he will climb into the cockpit and begin to familiarise himself with the way the deadly aircraft is configured for the country.Harry is not expected to be sent out to take on Taliban for at least another seven days.
