McGuinness: I wanted to kill every British soldier in Derry
The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said today he would have killed every single British soldier in Derry in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday if he had been able to.
The self-confessed former IRA man said feelings were running so high in the wake of the killings he would have had no difficulty killing every soldier in the city.
A total of 13 people attending a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry in 1972 were shot dead by paratroopers. A 14th died later from his injuries.
Derry-born and raised, Mr McGuinness, the Sinn Féin MP and MLA, said the shooting "hardened our attitudes considerably".
Speaking during a wide-ranging interview on RTÉ, he said: "There is no doubt whatsoever that in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday there was a renewed determination to oppose the British army and the RUC.
"If I had had the ability to kill every single British soldier that was on the streets of Derry I would have killed every single one of them without any difficulty whatsoever."
The report of the official inquiry into Bloody Sunday is still nowhere near being ready the government revealed recently.
What has become the longest running inquiry in UK legal history has run up a bill of £181.2m (€240.2m) so far, Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward revealed in a Commons written reply earlier this month.
He also said the tribunal had told him that due to the complexity and volume of evidence they took during public hearings, which ended more than three years ago, it was not possible to say when the report would be completed.
Mr Woodward said: "We are informed that the submission of the report is not imminent and that recent media speculation that the report will be concluded in May 2008 has no basis in fact."
William McCrea, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for South Antrim, said Mr McGuinness' comments added weight to what his party had been saying - that the confidence did not yet exist for the devolution of policing and justice powers to the power-sharing Executive at Stormont.
Commenting on the recent urgings of Shaun Woodward to complete devolution, he said: "The Secretary of State may believe he understands the mood of the unionist people, but I can assure him that no unionist whom I have spoken to is growing impatient about getting their hands on policing powers in Northern Ireland."
The DUP has been demanding the disbandment of the IRA Army Council before policing and justice powers are handed back.
Mr McCrea added: "The Secretary of State may not find the existence of the so-called IRA Army Council an obstacle but I can assure him it is. There is no room in any democracy for the so-called Army Council of a blood thirsty terrorist organisation."
