Saville hears further Bloody Sunday evidence
A British soldier has told the Saville Inquiry that he heard shots and bomb blasts before the British Army entered the Bogside in Derry on January 30, 1972.
The soldier, identified only as 1NQ 133, insisted that the sounds were not from British army rifles or from gas canisters being fired by British soldiers surrounding the IRA-controlled Bogside.
INQ said he recalled hearing the sound of British Army weapons shortly afterwards and felt "pleased our boys were fighting back".
The British Army has always insisted that it was fired upon first before it entered the Bogside and shot dead 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers on what became known as Bloody Sunday.
Relatives of the dead and those present at the march have insisted that no shots were fired at the British soldiers before the killings.
Both the Official and Provisional IRA have also said that they removed their weapons from the area ahead of the civil rights march and had given assurances to march organisers that they would not engage in any attack on the soldiers.
