A man fleeing the shooting on Bloody Sunday told IRA men at the scene British soldiers were trying to kill marchers, the Saville Inquiry heard today.
Mr Eamonn McCourt, who was 22 at the time, said he was terrified by the "zing" of bullets after gunfire, which resulted in the deaths of 14 people, erupted at the Derry civil rights march in January 1972.
Mr McCourt said he saw a car with possibly four men in it who he knew to be IRA members as he was making his way home.
"At this stage I was still running as fast as I could, but as I ran past they asked me what was going on. I replied ‘They are trying to kill us'," his statement said.
He told Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the inquiry, that his belief in the men's IRA status was based on rumour and he did not know them.
"They had no weapons that could be seen," he said.
Mr McCourt said he was one of the first people to arrive at Free Derry Corner and recalled seeing a woman and elderly man on the platform when gunfire was heard.
"Women were screaming and it was fairly chaotic. All I could think of was: ‘Why are people shooting at us?’"
PA