Thirteen people were killed on the day of the shootings in Londonderry, and a 14th person died later in hospital.

Relatives of the victims were angry at the decision to allow anonymity.

Lord Saville, the law lord who is chairing the inquiry, had ruled last month that the 17 soldiers should be named unless there were special reasons to justify anonymity.

But the High Court ruled by a 2-1 majority that that decision was legally "flawed" and the Parachute Regiment soldiers could remain anonymous.

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Their barrister, Sir Sidney Kentridge, QC, had said it was unreasonable to name them, for fear of reprisals.

He said the men believed their lives would be at risk if they revealed their identities.

Lord Justice Roch, sitting in London with Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Hooper, said the court had given "the most anxious scrutiny" to the issue of security.

They concluded that the tribunal "did not accord the applicants' fundamental human rights the required weight".

Damian Grammaticus reports from the High Court

Lord Justice Roch said he had accepted the Ministry of Defence view that the present level of threat to the soldiers might well increase - and there were still men and women in Northern Ireland "who are willing to kill and maim when it suits them".

The dissenting judge, Mr Justice Hooper, said the case concerned balancing the competing demands of "open justice" and the risk to the soldiers, and he could not describe the tribunal's decision as "irrational".

He said the Bloody Sunday inquiry had "to restore public confidence where a crisis of public confidence has occurred" and that the soldiers' conduct was "at the very heart" of the inquiry.

A spokesman for the Bloody Sunday inquiry said: "We have sought leave to appeal and we will now consider the ramifications of the court's ruling."

Government support

The UK Government confirmed in May that it supported the soldiers' attempt to preserve their anonymity. It will is also funding their legal costs.

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "I think this is very welcome news for the soldiers."

Counsel for the Ministry of Defence had accused the tribunal of deliberately exposing the witnesses to risk of injury or death.

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Lawyers for the families of those who died said they had a fundamental need to know the names of those responsible for the deaths of their relatives.

After the High Court decision, Peter Madden, representing some of the families, said: "It's a serious setback for truth and justice.

"The soldiers, if they have nothing to hide, should come forward and justify their actions, and to do that they should identify themselves."

Relatives were also dismayed by the decision. John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was one of the soldiers' victims, said: "It means the independence of the whole inquiry is in jeopardy, whereby other judicial bodies can interfere like this."

Mitchel McLaughlin, of the republican Sinn Fein party, said: "This ruling ... reflects the continuing efforts of the British military, political and judicial establishment to evade responsibility for what happened on that tragic day.

"These elements are involved in pursuing an agenda which, with the collusion of the right wing media, hinders the efforts of the Bloody Sunday families to finally obtain truth and,justice."

More than 450 former soldiers are involved in the inquiry into events on 30 January 1972, when the army shot 13 people dead in Londonderry. One person died later in hospital.