The British army knew that Mr Martin McGuinness was second-in-command of the Provisional IRA on Bloody Sunday, it was claimed today.
In a statement to the Bloody Sunday inquiry, Mr McGuinness had admitted he was adjutant of the Derry Brigade on January 30th 1972.
Today a battalion intelligence officer and a Lieutenant with the Coldstream Guards in 1972, identified only as INQ 462, said Mr McGuinness's revelation was "very consistent" with what the security forces knew at the time.
British paratroopers killed 13 Catholic men on a civil rights march in Derry on Bloody Sunday. The officer could not recall if he was specifically warned to expect shooting that day or if the intelligence section had a specific briefing before the march.
He told the inquiry that the IRA and the Republican movement in general had "an awful lot of loose cannons" and "hotheads" and that violence was possible.
"It is unrealistic to expect soldiers to go out and not worry about the possibility of shooting taking place," he recalled.
It was possible that the IRA would have tried to exploit the march by using the large number of marchers as cover to shoot at soldiers, he said.
INQ 462 rejected suggestions that the security forces may have "orchestrated" a situation in which the shooting could take place as "impractical" and unrealistic.
PA