British soldier ‘shot at on Bloody Sunday’

A former British soldier has told the Saville Inquiry that he was shot at on Bloody Sunday in Derry more than 31 years ago after spotting a group of men in combat gear loading unknown items into a car.

Solider 165 said he and his colleagues were standing on the walls of Derry city when they spotted the men in the IRA-controlled Bogside area.

He said the men were loading unidentified items into a car from the back of a shop in the Brandywell area. While he was watching the incident, he said, a high-powered shot was fired in his direction.

Soldier 165 said the shot was probably fired by someone who was looking out for the men.

Elements of the soldier’s testimony appeared to support claims by a former IRA man that eight members of Na Fianna, the youth wing of the IRA, were supplied with two nail bombs each ahead of the Catholic civil rights march on Bloody Sunday.

Paddy Ward said the nail bombs were loaded into the back of a hijacked car. He has also revealed that all but two of the devices were subsequently retrieved from the bombers. Mr Ward said the only bombs not retrieved were those given to a 17-year-old youth who was shot dead by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday.

Despite the similarities in Mr Ward’s and Soldier 165’s testimony, a lawyer representing some of the victims of Bloody Sunday questioned the veracity of the soldier’s evidence today. Arthur Harvey, QC, asked why Soldier 165 had not mentioned any IRA activity in the Bogside in his statement immediately after the Bloody Sunday killings.