'McGuinness fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday'

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was at the centre of major political controversy yesterday after claims were made that Martin McGuinness fired a shot which triggered the violence leading to the deaths of 14 civil rights protesters.

Lord Saville of Newdigate's tribunal was told that Mr McGuinness, Sinn Fein MP and the party's chief negotiator, had admitted opening fire with a Thompson sub-machine gun "precipitating" the killing of the civilians by British Army paratroopers in Londonderry.

Mr McGuinness has so far refused to co-operate with the inquiry, which was told yesterday that he was reputedly the commander of the Provisional IRA in the city at the time of the shooting on 30 January 1972.

Mr McGuinness is seeking legal advice on whether to give evidence. Last night he said the shooting claims against him were "a pathetic fabrication" and an attempt by the British Army to divert attention from their own culpability over the killings.

Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the inquiry, told of security service documents implicating Mr McGuinness. One message which came from The Hague, dated April 1984, described the debriefing of an informer, code named "Infliction". It stated: "McGuinness had admitted to Infliction that he had personally fired the shot (from a Thompson machine gun on single shot) from Rossville Flats in the Bogside that had precipitated the Bloody Sunday episodes."

Another classified document, produced a month later, referred to a conversation with another senior member of the Provisional IRA who confirmed that Mr McGuinness fired the shot.

Mr Clarke said he was focusing on Mr McGuinness because he "is widely reputed to have been the OC [Officer Commanding] of the Provisional IRA in Londonderry. He was present in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday. He has himself written about the events of that day in terms that suggest he is in a position to give evidence from his own knowledge of what happened.

"There are before the inquiry certain documents in which it is claimed that Mr McGuinness was, in his capacity as a member of the Provisional IRA, actively involved in events of Bloody Sunday and that he was armed with and may have fired a Thompson sub-machine gun."

Mr Clarke continued: "No-one need fear that by giving evidence to this tribunal they will incriminate themselves... Now is the time to speak, not least because if people remain silent, it may be said by some that they were silent because they had something to hide."

He added: "Whatever his role may have been in 1972... Mr McGuinness] is today a prominent member of Sinn Fein, a Member of Parliament at Westminster and a member of the legislative assembly. Both he and his party have consistently supported the campaign for a new inquiry into events of Bloody Sunday and unequivocally supported the families in their search for the truth." He would be able to bring forward that aim by giving evidence or "severely retard it" by failing to do so, Mr Clarke said.

Mr McGuinness responded last night: "This is an attempt by British military to divert attention away from the fact that the Paras killed 14 innocent civilians on that day."

A Sinn Fein spokeswoman later claimed Mr McGuinness would give evidence to the tribunal if asked. "If he is called he would welcome the opportunity," she said.