BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY: A retired British army officer who was on observation duty on the walls of Derry on Bloody Sunday said yesterday that he heard no nail-bombs exploding before, during or after the Bloody Sunday killings.
The former major told the inquiry into the January 30th, 1972, killings of 13 civilians by paratroopers that if any nail-bombs had exploded on Bloody Sunday he would have heard the explosions.
The witness, whose evidence contradicts that of several army and police witnesses who said they heard nail-bomb explosions on the day, was on the walls overlooking the scene of the killings in the Bogside.
As well as the 13 fatalities, 13 unarmed civilians were also wounded when members of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment opened fired during a civil rights march.
The former major, known to the inquiry as Soldier 159, said he was a battery commander in the 22nd Light Air Defence Regiment on Bloody Sunday.
He said immediately prior to the shootings, two high-velocity rounds were fired towards the walls, but he could not say if they had been fired from an army-issue SLR rifle or from a civilian high-velocity weapon.
He told the inquiry's three judges that he also heard Thompson machine-gun fire, but he didn't know if this was before or after he had heard the two high-velocity shots.
Soldier 159 said that from his observation post he could see "an incredibly large march" in which "thousands of people" took part.
"I am absolutely certain that none of the soldiers from my battery fired any shots that day.
"Had they done so, they would have reported this to me. There was such an adrenalin rush when you fired a round that it was not something you would keep to yourself.
"Petrol-bombs and nail-bombs also made a distinctive bang noise. I would have known and recognised that sound if I heard it.
"I do not recall hearing any explosions that day. As I stated I had a troop deployed at Butcher's Gate (on the walls) and there were no reports that there were any bombs in that area and I would have been told about it if there had been.
"I have recently spoken to a colleague who was deployed at the William Street barrier, and he has stated that no bombs were thrown in that area that day either. At no time did I see any civilians that day with any weapons.
Meanwhile a paratrooper claimed that he saw two of his colleagues pulling a wheelbarrow containing up to 50 SLR rifles across open ground in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday.
The then corporal said he was "absolutely certain" that he had witnessed two other paratroopers pulling the wheelbarrow and that all of the rifles' magazines had been taken off.
Although no other civilian nor military witness has reported the incident, the former corporal said it stuck in his mind because he had "never seen weapons collected in such a way before".
The inquiry continues.