More police witnesses allowed screen

Thirteen civilians were killed on Bloody Sunday

Two more police witnesses are to be allowed to testify to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from behind screens amid fears for their safety.

The ruling was made by inquiry chairman Lord Saville on Monday when the tribunal resumed after the summer break.

The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by British Army soldiers during a civil rights march in the city. A 14th person died later.

Lord Saville said the two retired officers were in the same category as other police witnesses who had already been granted the protection of being screened from public view.

Lord Saville: Began work on inquiry nearly four years ago

The 20 serving and former police officers are being allowed to give evidence from behind screens on the grounds that they have genuine fears for their safety.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that former IRA hunger striker Raymond McCartney will testify to the inquiry on Thursday.

Mr McCartney took part in the first hunger strike in 1980.

He is expected to tell the tribunal that he joined the IRA after Bloody Sunday and has no knowledge of what the IRA did or did not do that day.

The development comes after the inquiry renewed its appeal to the IRA to come forward to give evidence last week.

Lord Saville said he needed the evidence if he was to carry out a full investigation.

As the tribunal rose for the summer break, Lord Saville said that four years into the inquiry, only a small number of IRA members had come forward.

IRA role

He said their evidence was important and that if they did not give it he would be asked to draw the conclusion that they had something to hide.

So far, only Northern Ireland's Education Minister Martin McGuinness has given a statement about the role of the Provisional IRA on Bloody Sunday.

Six former members of the Official IRA have provided statements about what they were doing on the day.

However, it seems unlikely that more IRA members will come forward.

The tribunal is sitting in the Guildhall in Londonderry for a short time before moving to London to hear evidence from soldiers.

Lord Saville and the commonwealth judges who comprise the inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until 2004.

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.