'Bloody Sunday troops fired without reason': ex-para
A Bloody Sunday paratrooper today said that his colleagues fired without justification.
The former para, identified only as Soldier 027, said just two soldiers - identified as Lance Corporal F and Soldier G – were probably responsible for eight or 10 of the deaths of the 13 unarmed men killed on 30 January 1972 on a Derry civil rights march.
The witness, in his statement to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, sitting in London, recalled that one colleague from 1 Para was “exuberant” as a terrifying display of firepower was unleashed against civilians.
Soldier 027’s eyewitness account of the bloodshed in the Bogside is hotly contested.
Dozens of other soldiers are expected to say they fired within rules of engagement and only at threatening targets.
Soldier 027 was giving his live evidence today behind a screen, just yards away from bereaved relatives who believe their loved ones were killed without proper reason.
Several of the 14 injured in the shootings also attended.
The ex-para is in a special protection scheme, paid for by the Northern Ireland Office, to ensure he co-operates with the Government-appointed inquiry which is expected to cost more than €158m by the time it concludes.
It is believed Soldier 027 fears retribution from his former colleagues. The deal, which includes relocation and a salary, ends when he finishes giving his evidence.
In his statement to the inquiry, Soldier 027 claimed Lance Corporal F began firing “without pause or hesitation” at the centre of the crowd at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street, where six people were killed.
There were “shocked and terrified” people who were shot at while they fled Glendfada Park North and others froze in fear. Four people died in the Glenfada Park area.
Soldier 027 said he stood amid the carnage and never fired a single shot because he could not identify a gunman or a nail-bomber.
In total, 108 bullets were fired on Bloody Sunday.
Soldier 027 recalled being positioned at a wall in Kells Walk, Rossville Street, with his fellow soldiers and scanning the crowd for a target with his rifle at his shoulder.
He recalled one soldier, probably a corporal from Guinness Force, running up beside him and pushing between two soldiers who were firing so that he could begin firing himself.
“He indicated to me that he thought what was happening was great. He was exuberant,” Soldier 027 said in his statement.
“I looked through my sights, scanning across the crowd. I was as keen to find a target as anyone, but I just could not identify a target that appeared to justify engaging. I did not see anyone with a weapon or see or hear an explosive device.
“I have a clear memory of consciously thinking ’what are they firing at?’ and feeling some inadequacy. What was I not seeing that I ought to be seeing?”
The paras, believing they could be attacked by IRA gunmen, were psyched up for battle, according to Soldier 027.
A briefing held the Saturday evening had left the soldiers remarking how they could be “getting kills” the following day, he said.
The paras in his section had passed around dumdum bullets as they waited in the armoured vehicles ready to go into the Bogside, he said.
Soldier 027 said he joined the Parachute Regiment in 1971 when he was 19 years old and was a radio operator in the regiment’s anti-tank platoon on Bloody Sunday.
“Unspeakable acts took place on Bloody Sunday,” he said in his inquiry statement.
“There was no justification for a single shot I saw fired. The only threat was a large assembly of people and we were all experienced soldiers who had been through riot situations before.”
He added: “Events that day within my own platoon were triggered by two individuals with a game plan and when they saw they could bring it into action, they did so and others joined in. There was no command to prevent or stop this happening.”
The march occurred at a politically sensitive point in Ireland’s troubles. Internment, which was introduced in August 1971, had escalated the violence on the streets and made rioting and sniper fire against British soldiers commonplace.
The paras, whom Soldier 027 has dubbed “the army’s rottweilers“, were, he said, arrogant and elitist shock troops who were deployed for efficient clear-up or arrest operations.
People in authority needed to accept some of the blame for Bloody Sunday, Soldier 027 said.
He added: “The responsibility for its (1 Paras) actions lies with those who selected and directed an outfit like that. It is noticeable that no one in authority has taken responsibility for orchestrating the situation.”
