Republican gunman 'fired shots'

Bloody Sunday dead are remembered in the Bogside

Evidence that republican gunmen had fired shots in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday has emerged at the Saville Inquiry.

Public hearings of the tribunal on Tuesday also heard extracts from a statement from a former member of the Official IRA, the predecessor of the Provisional IRA.

All other details about the activities of gunmen were indirect or taken from statements given to the press afterwards, said counsel to the inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC.

The Official IRA witness, Reg Tester, said in his statement that his faction was ordered to stay away from the march or participate "as ordinary Derry people".

Continuing his opening submission to the inquiry, Mr Clarke read out part of the statement given by Mr Tester.

Michael Clarke QC is presenting the evidence gathered so far

Mr Tester came originally from Nottinghamshire and had served in the navy.

At the time of the Bloody Sunday shootings, he was Commander Staff Quartermaster for the Official IRA, third in command in the Derry brigade.

His evidence alleged that his unnamed Officer Commanding (OC) issued orders for all Official IRA weapons in the Bogside district to be placed in the Creggan estate before the march.

This was due to fears that the British Army might "invade" the Creggan.

All but two of the brigade's weapons were handed in in the 48 hours leading up to the march.

One of the missing guns was the OC's pistol, the other a cut-down Sporting .303 rifle.

But he also confirmed "hearing" that one of the group had fired a shot in reply to a British Army marksman's shot.

Other witnesses said they had received assurances from the Provisional IRA that its men would not be there or would not be armed if they were.

Shots heard

Later, the tribunal heard evidence of another witness in the Bogside who claimed that he heard "two high-velocity shots" from the direction of Richardson's factory or the Presbyterian church followed by "the thump of a .303 right beside us. One round".

Mr Clarke then referred back to Mr Tester's statement, which said he discovered that "a volunteer member of the Official IRA" had the missing .303 rifle.

"I heard that a shot had been fired by army marksmen from William Street and that the volunteer fired one shot in return," Mr Tester said.

"If it was the case, it was in breach of his orders, even if was retaliatory, because in opening fire, he was giving away his position", Mr Tester's statement added.

Mr Clarke said the firing appeared to be by an "Official" who could have been in the first storey of the house where the first two civilians shot by the army that day were taken.

The hearing was adjourned until 0930 BST on Wednesday.

The new inquiry into the deaths of 14 people, shot by British paratroopers at a civil rights march in Londonderry in January 1972, is expected to run for two years.

It started last week in the Guildhall, Londonderry.