US state department says report can add to North's 'ongoing transformation'

INTERNATIONAL REACTION: THE US STATE department welcomed publication of the Saville report, saying it hoped the findings would…

INTERNATIONAL REACTION:THE US STATE department welcomed publication of the Saville report, saying it hoped the findings would contribute to the "ongoing transformation from a turbulent past to a peaceful future."

Assistant secretary of state for public affairs Philip Crowley said the US acknowledged the work of those who had contributed to this “very important process”.

“It is our hope that the scale of the inquiry, the quantity of material available and its findings will contribute to greater understanding and reconciliation of what happened on that tragic day,” he said.

Amnesty International also welcomed the report. “The inquiry . . . began with a promise of truth and we hope that today, over 38 years since 14 civilians were fatally shot by British soldiers at a civil rights march, that promise has been fulfilled,” its UK director Kate Allen said.