Prince Harry returns from deployment in Afghanistan

LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defence says Prince Harry is returning from a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot.

The 28-year-old prince was stationed at Camp Bastion in the southern Afghan desert. Known as Capt. Wales in the military, Harry flew scores of missions as a co-pilot gunner, sometimes firing rockets and missiles at Taliban fighters.

Harry’s second tour in Afghanistan went more smoothly than the first, in 2007-08, which was cut short when a magazine and websites disclosed his whereabouts. British media agreed to a news blackout on security grounds.