Bloody Sunday play is set to open

Lord Saville began hearing evidence in March 2000

A new play based on the long-running Bloody Sunday inquiry by author Richard Norton-Taylor is set to open in London.

He said Bloody Sunday held important lessons for British peacekeeping forces today, particularly in Iraq.

Millions of words in transcripts taken over five years have been condensed into 78 pages of script.

The inquiry has been investigating the deaths of 14 civilians shot by soldiers during a civil rights march in Londonderry in January 1972.

"Even though we are talking something that happened over 30 years ago, the lessons are clear - that even highly trained and disciplined British troops can get involved in very dangerous shooting matches against civilians," Mr Norton-Taylor said.

He is security affairs editor at the Guardian newspaper.

"This is a running problem, and military commanders in Britain are increasingly concerned that they are being asked to be policemen, whereas soldiers are trained to shoot to kill and it's a very difficult mix.

"We've seen the consequences in Iraq, where a number of British solders... have been charged or face the prospect of being charged for the abuse, murder and injury of Iraqi civilians."

'Campaign by families'

The play is set to open in at The Tricycle theatre in north London on Thursday and run until 7 May.

It is part of a series by the journalist, including the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the Hutton inquiry into the suicide of British weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

A previous play was based on the Hutton Inquiry

Director Nicolas Kent said the series had reached an estimated audience of more than 25 million after the BBC televised several of the plays and broadcast one on radio.

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

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the inquiry began hearing evidence in March 2000.

The inquiry has heard evidence from leading politicians, including the prime minister at the time, Sir Edward Heath, civilians, policemen, soldiers and IRA members.

Lord Saville's final report and conclusions are not expected to be made public until the summer.