An SAS soldier shot an armed IRA member as he lay wounded on the ground but did not tell police on the advice of the army, an inquest in Belfast heard yesterday.
Dessie Grew (37), and Martin McCaughey (23), were killed when soldiers fired 72 bullets at them near farm buildings in Co Armagh in October 1990.
A man known only as Soldier D said he opened fire on the men after a senior colleague fired the first shot.
It later emerged the republicans did not shoot and the soldiers have said they were firing at flashes they now believe were caused by their own bullets.
Soldier D was being cross-examined by the barrister for the families, Karen Quinlivan.
The inquest is one of several so-called security force “shoot-to-kill” incidents which have sparked controversy and a series of official investigations.