A British soldier claimed today he shot two gunmen on Bloody Sunday.
The soldier, known only as Soldier C, told the Saville Inquiry in London he thought he had hit his targets.
The soldier, who was a private in Support Company, 1 Para, said in a written statement he had reached the top of a flight of steps to the balcony of a small block of flats in Derry on January 30th, 1972, when he heard the sound of automatic gunfire.
"This was not a riot but close-quarters warfare and very dangerous," he said. He stopped at the top of a sloping ramp and saw the "dark shadow of a person in a long coat" appear either from behind a corner of a building or from behind a door.
"The person seemed to be holding what I thought was a Kalashnikov rifle," he said.
"I cannot now actually recall seeing the weapon being fired but I definitely can visualise the person holding the weapon and lifting the gun slowly," he said. "I cannot now recall firing my weapon and if so, whether I hit the gunman . . . if I did fire, it is because the man must have fired his weapon".
He agreed with Mr Roxburgh that he had stated in 1972 that he had hit him in the chest or arm, which meant he thought he had either wounded or killed him.
The tribunal is investigating the events of January 30th, 1972, when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead in Derry. A 14th man died later.