Prince Harry

Taliban leader Anas Haqqani hit back at Prince Harry for his admission, in his book ‘Spare’, that he killed 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan. Image via Twitter @politicoforyou

Taliban slams Prince Harry: ‘Ones you killed weren’t chess pieces’

In his much-awaited book, ‘Spare,’ Prince Harry reveals that he killed 25 people during his military service in Afghanistan.

Prince Harry

Taliban leader Anas Haqqani hit back at Prince Harry for his admission, in his book ‘Spare’, that he killed 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan. Image via Twitter @politicoforyou

Taliban leader Anas Haqqani has denounced the Duke of Sussex Prince Harry for his admission of killing 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reports.

This comes after an extract from the 38-year-old British royal’s memoir, Spare, in which he described the 25 people he claims to have killed as “chess pieces removed from the board”.

ALSO READ: ‘Spare’: Four bombshells from Prince Harry’s memoir

PRINCE HARRY RECOUNTS KILLING 25 PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN

Although Harry’s book is set to be released on 10 January, it has already gone on sale in Spain.

In it, he delves into many aspects of his personal life including his strained relationship with his brother and heir to the throne Prince William, how he lost his virginity, his encounter with drugs and his time in the military.

ALSO READ: Prince Harry alleges William physically attacked him over Meghan

Recounting his two tours of Afghanistan — first as a forward air controller in 2007/08 and again in 2012 when he was a co-pilot gunner in Apache attack helicopters — Harry mentioned the number of people he had killed.

“It wasn’t a statistic that filled me with pride but nor did it leave me ashamed. When I found myself plunged in the heat and confusion of combat I didn’t think of those 25 as people.

“They were chess pieces removed from the board, Bad people eliminated before they could kill Good people,” Harry wrote, according to the Spanish version of Spare.

Prince Harry book
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are formally known, have since cashed in on their royal connections with several lucrative contracts for tell-all books and programmes. Image from Twitter/@AnasHaqqani313.

ALSO READ: Prince Harry tells all: M-Net bags rights for bombshell interview

TALIBAN LEADER HITS BACK AT PRINCE HARRY

However, according to Al Jazeera on Friday 6 January, Taliban leader Anas Haqqani said that this was not true.

“We checked and found that the days on which Prince Harry is mentioning the killing of 25 mujaheddin, we did not have any casualties in Helmand.

“It is clear that civilians and ordinary people were targeted.

“This story is a part of the many war crimes of the 20 years of Western military presence in Afghanistan,” he said.

“It is not the whole picture of the crimes committed by them,” he added.

‘THE ONES YOU KILLED WERE NOT CHESS PIECES’

Aditionally, Haqqani took to Twitter to criticise Harry, saying he killed innocent people.

“Mr Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return,” Haqqani tweeted.

He added: “Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes.

“The truth is what you’ve said; Our innocent people were chess pieces to your soldiers, military and political leaders. Still, you were defeated in that ‘game’ of white & black ‘square'”.

In closing he wrote: “I don’t expect that the ICC (International Criminal Court) will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you.”