RUC man says IRA opened fire on Bloody Sunday

A former RUC man has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in Derry that some of the 13 civilians shot dead on January 30, 1972 died in a gun battle between the IRA and British soldiers.

Neil Falkingham, who was on duty in the Bogside on the day of the killings, said the first gunfire he heard on the day came from what sounded like a Thompson sub-machine gun, a weapon used by the IRA in the 1970s. He said he then heard high-velocity shots from British army weapons and, because the sounds of the two weapons overlapped, he concluded that IRA members and British soldiers were engaged in a gun fight.

The Provisional IRA has already told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that it had removed all its arms from the Bogside on the day of the civil rights march that ended with the death of 13 unarmed Catholic civilians.

The Official IRA has admitted firing random shots, but only after the British soldiers had invaded the Bogside and opened fire on Catholic civilians.

The British army, on the other hand, has insisted that soldiers only began shooting after being fired at. It also said some of the civilians killed on the day were firing weapons and throwing bombs at the British troops.

Mr Falkingham, who was screened from the public while giving evidence, said he did not hear the sound of any nail bombs, blast bombs or petrol bombs and did not see any civilians carrying arms.