The Bloody Sunday inquiry has received fresh intelligence documents which claim that Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness was armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun on Bloody Sunday.
The revelation was disclosed at the inquiry's hearing last night during which Mr McGuinness was compared to a "penguin" by a barrister who represents most of the 200 British soldiers who have given evidence about the Bogside killings by paratroopers of 13 civilians in Derry in January, 1972.
In a submission last night, barrister Mr Gerard Elias, who also represents many of the Bloody Sunday soldiers, said that new intelligence referred to the alleged actions of Mr McGuinness on Bloody Sunday.
He said a prime example of the new information contained "further intelligence that Martin McGuinness was in possession of a Thompson sub-machine gun on Bloody Sunday itself". Mr McGuinness, who was second in command of the Provisional IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday, has previously dismissed as "rubbish" claims that he was armed.
The intelligence document is understood to refer to a sighting of Mr McGuinness in possession of a Thompson sub-machine gun "up inside his coat" in the Chamberlain Street area, close to the scene of the killings. The source of the information is also quoted as saying: "I did not see him firing it and I do not know whether he fired on the day."
Mr Edwin Glasgow, who represents most of the Bloody Sunday paratroopers, condemned what he called the paucity of evidence from members of the IRA about their actions on Bloody Sunday.
He said the statement by counsel to the inquiry, Mr Christopher Clarke, that the inquiry had received statements from people on all continents save Antarctica, was made in the presence of Mr McGuinness in Derry's Guildhall over three years ago.
"It struck some of us, without disrespect to the Minister of Education, that he did not appear to ressemble a penguin or any other resident of Antarctica and it is a pity, even then, that the inquiry's search for the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday had not met with more success closer to Londonderry let alone any other city or continent," he said.
The inquiry continues today.