IRA tape claims to be Bloody Sunday recording

A tape-recording which it is claimed came from an electronic bug planted by the Provisional IRA inside Derry's RUC headquarters…

A tape-recording which it is claimed came from an electronic bug planted by the Provisional IRA inside Derry's RUC headquarters communications room on Bloody Sunday has been given to a Derry Journal reporter, Mr Eamon MacDermott. Mr MacDermott said last night that the tape was given to him by a known republican source. It is thought that military voices on the tape are a recording from the communications room in the former Victoria Place RUC headquarters in Derry. The voices are said to have been recorded in the immediate aftermath of the killing of 13 unarmed men in the Bogside on January 30th, 1972. According to a transcript supplied with the tape a military voice said: "Obviously I think it has gone badly wrong. The doctor has been up at the hospital and they are pulling stiffs out there as fast as they can get them."

Another male voice said: "There is about nine and 15 killed by the Parachute Regiment in the Rossville area. They are all women, children, f . . . knows what, and they are still going up there".

Another voice also attributed to a soldier states: "The padre is a bit upset and he is going off to see the commander about all the ill treatment."

A further male voice referring to the commander, Gen Ford, said: "He was lapping it up. He said it was the best thing he had seen for a long time. He said we are far too passive."

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A solicitor for one of the Bloody Sunday families, Mr Greg McCartney, said he would be handing over the transcript to the Bloody Sunday inquiry, which is due to resume its hearings on November 4th.

Mr John Kelly, whose 17-yearold brother, Michael, was one of 14 people killed, described the tape as disturbing. "This tape has obviously been in existence for some time and it is possible that there is more material out there," he said.