Prince goes on patrol near Taliban

LONDON (Reuters) - To the boy on the donkey this is just another foreign soldier.

Patrolling through the bombed-out streets of Garmsir in war-ravaged Helmand Province, Prince Harry does not attract a second glance.

His presence would be even more of a surprise to the Taliban - bunkered down just 500 metres across no man's land from where he is walking in these photographs.

Before his deployment to Afghanistan in December there were question marks over whether the prince would ever be able to get out on patrol because of the risk that insurgents would find out he was there and step up attacks.

He was initially sent to Forward Operating Base Dwyer, an important but isolated British outpost in the middle of Helmand.

But within days of arriving Harry was sent to Garmsir, further forward than he originally thought possible, his deployment having remained a closely guarded secret.

In a sequence of photographs taken in January he is pictured on a small routine patrol through Garmsir's near-deserted bazaar.

"Just walking around, some of the locals or the ANP (Afghan National Police) they haven't got a clue who I am, they wouldn't know," Harry said.

Until fierce fighting a year ago sent the civilian population fleeing, the bazaar was a bustling thoroughfare, the economic heart of southern Helmand.

Now outside the gates of Forward Operating Base Delhi, the streets are all but deserted with empty shops lying open, visited only by feral cats.

Having changed hands between Taliban and coalition control several times, evidence of destruction is everywhere.

But already around 140 people have moved back into a handful of compounds at one end of the bazaar.

Local police keep records of who owns which empty shop and house amid hopes that the population will return.

And regular foot patrols such as this are part of that process - providing reassurance to residents, local commander Major Mark Milford of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Gurkha Rifles explained.

"I would love to get this place cleaned up ready to move into by the time I leave," Major Milford said.

"There's still a lot of tension down here, they know that 500m south are the Taliban, so the Afghans are very cagey about being seen to work for the coalition."

Nevertheless there are already signs of life.

On one street corner Afghan National Police were playing football with what looked like a plastic lightbulb. Harry smiled and waved.

One man walked past him pushing a wheelbarrow as a boy passed by on a donkey, his feet almost touching the ground.

For someone recognised almost everywhere he has ever been in life, the anonymity was clearly refreshing.

"It's fantastic," Harry said. "I'm still a little bit conscious (not to) show my face too much, in and around the area.

"Luckily there's no civilians around here ... it's sort of a little no-man's-land."