Details of a fracas in a British army camp on the evening of the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry 31 years ago were revealed at the Saville inquiry yesterday.
The inquiry, which is investigating the killings by British army paratroopers of 13 unarmed civilians and the woundings of 13 others, was told by a former lance-corporal in the lst Battalion of the Parachute Regiment that members of his regiment became involved in "a punch-up" with soldiers from an artillery regiment.
The paratroopers, who were based in Belfast at the time of the Bloody Sunday killings, were moved to Derry for the operation on the day and returned to Belfast after the Bogside shootings.
"Back in the barracks, a television was on in the dining-room. The news came on showing the incidents of the day. We could see bodies being carried. Some were dead in the street. Each time a body was shown, we all cheered because we believed the dead were terrorists who had been trying to kill us.
"Looking back, I think it was callous, but we were just young men and that was what we had been trained for. There was a scuffle in the canteen between different units, 1 Para and the Artillery. There were several men from each side involved in a heated argument which developed into a punch-up.
"My impression was that the argument started because the Artillery (regiment) believed 1 Para's actions had destroyed any chance of a good relationship with the local population. They felt they would be left to face the backlash," he told the inquiry.
The witness also said that when he was deployed in the Bogside, he heard the distinctive thump of gunfire.
"The first shots sounded like low-velocity fire and I could then hear SLR shots. I am almost certain that I heard the repetition of automatic fire which could have come from a Thompson sub-machine-gun. The gunfire went on for some time and I would describe it as broken up," he said.
Meanwhile the only military gun-shot casualty on Bloody Sunday told how he accidentally shot himself in the foot with his own rifle. The witness, a gunner in the Light Air Defence Regiment, was in a building on the edge of the Bogside when the accident happened.
"It was common practice at the time to rest the end of the rifle barrel on the top of your boot. This stopped the muzzle getting dirty. I was resting my rifle in this way and playing with the safety-catch when the shot was fired. There was a loud bang and the empty cartridge hit my sergeant in the back. At first we thought he had been shot but I felt pain in my foot and quickly realised that I had fired the shot," he said.
The inquiry continues.