Commander to resume evidence

General Ford (L) said he was not responsible

The former Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland is set to resume his evidence to the Saville Inquiry.

It will be the third week of testimony from General Sir Robert Ford.

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry is investigating the events of 30 January 1972 when paratroops opened fire on civilians at a civil rights march in the Bogside in Derry.

The inquiry is currently sitting in London.

Last week, Sir Robert said there was no surprise that Army snipers did not pick out any gunmen or bombers during the main shootings on Bloody Sunday.

He told the inquiry he did not expect substantial gunfire from the IRA because a large number of Army snipers had been deployed on the day.

Under questioning from Arthur Harvey QC, representing most of the families, General Ford said he was not surprised to learn that not one of the snipers identified a target during the main shootings which lasted for seven minutes.

General Ford said if the paratroops on the ground were giving evidence they were shooting at gunmen and bombers operating in the open then he believed they were telling the truth.

'Dissident republicans'

Mr Harvey asked Sir Robert: "Is it not surprising, if there was a gun battle, with the IRA out in the open for the first time in Derry, that not one sniper was able to have an identifiable target on even one occasion?"

Sir Robert replied: "At the time apparently not, but now of course."

He added: "I was generally of the opinion that the precautions we had taken matched counter snipers... would be very likely to be sufficient on the day to prevent the IRA starting up."

Lord Widgery: Headed original inquiry

The inquiry has been sitting in Derry for the last two years, but was moved to London to hear evidence from military witnesses following court action in which they argued they could be targeted by dissident republicans if they had to travel to Northern Ireland.

The Army has always maintained that it was fired on by IRA gunmen before it opened fire and this view was upheld by the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings.

The relatives of those killed and injured have always denied that the Army were fired on before they opened fire.

The Saville Inquiry was set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair to reinvestigate the evidence because the relatives felt the first inquiry was a whitewash.

Lord Saville and the Commonwealth judges who comprise the inquiry, are not expected to report back until 2004.