Prince Harry says he killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan

Prince Harry killed 25 people during his second tour of Afghanistan, his upcoming autobiography reveals.

The Duke of Sussex's memoir, Spare, revealed that his six missions as an Apache helicopter pilot resulted in the "taking of human lives," which Harry is neither proud or ashamed of, Daily Star reports.

The Duke added that he didn't think of those he killed while fighting the Taliban as "people," instead seeing them as "chess pieces" that had been taken off the board.

Harry has never before disclosed the number of people he had killed in combat and the memoir's revelation has sparked fears over the Prince's personal safety, the Telegraph reported.

The hotly-anticipated book was due for publication on January 10 but was released early today (January 5) in Spain, prompting a series of bombshell allegations to be released ahead of time.

Speaking of the early release, media expert and "PR to the Stars" Mayah Riaz said: "The PR strategy around [the book launch] would have been carefully planned.

"Everything from the interviews he will give [to] the extracts, if any, that would be released pre-launch - the latter of which would be scrapped because it's now already out there."

She added: "This was clearly an accidental leak, which would make Harry quite furious with it being out his control.

"The reason he would be furious is that the book is expected to be more incendiary than their Netflix series."

Aside from his wartime stats, the Prince also revealed he took cocaine at the age of just 17, adding that he didn't particularly enjoy it.

The Prince said he had started taking drugs at a young age to "feel different" as he struggled to grow into his royal role.

He wrote: "Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time. At someone's house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more.

"It wasn't very fun, and it didn't make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different."

Harry added: "I was a seventeen-year-old willing to try almost anything that would alter the pre-established order.