Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness was not the commander of the Provisional IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday, the inquiry into the events was told today.
The statement came from veteran Derry journalist Mr Eamon McCann who himself previously named the now Mid Ulster MP and Northern Ireland Education Minister as the leader of the group in the city on January 30th 1972.
Mr McCann refused to disclose to the Saville Inquiry into the Army shootings who he believed actually held the top position at that time. He also refused identify others active in the Provisionals' forerunner, the Official IRA.
A native Derry and a leading figure in the campaign for civil rights in the North, Mr McCann took part in the big anti-Internment demonstration in Derry which ended with 13 Catholic men shot dead in the midst of a military operation in the city's Bogside district.
He told the inquiry that the position of IRA officer commanding was a role "widely ascribed" to Mr McGuinness and admitted he named him as such in his 1979 book about the Troubles: War And An Irish Town.
"I have to say that it is my belief now that Mr McGuinness was not the OC of the Provisionals at the time," he told Day 86 of the inquiry at the Guildhall, Derry.
"However, that was a role widely ascribed to him. It was my belief at the time - but I certainly could not prove that he was - it was widely believed and taken for granted that he was a prominent member of that organisation." Asked by Counsel to the inquiry, Mr Christopher Clarke QC, about who was the leader of the group then, Mr McCann said: "I am not willing to say."
Mr McCann also refused to confirm the identity of the alleged commander of the Official IRA the Provisionals' precursor - when a name was handed to him on a piece of paper in the witness box.
In his written statement to the Inquiry Mr McCann said he was not involved in the organisation of the march but was in touch with the leaders of the Official IRA and "knew from them that the orders of the day on 30 January 1972 was that its members would not be present carrying guns". However it added later: "Although there was no concerted activity organised by the IRA in the Bogside on that Sunday, I am aware that there were at least two gunmen in the area."
He had personally interviewed the gunman described by former Bishop of Derry Dr Edward Daly and stated: "His explanation was that he had taken the gun on the march for his personal protection, but that he had lost his temper when the Paras started shooting and had taken out his gun in anger and fired a shot.
"As far as I am aware there were only two gunmen in the area and I understand that six shots were fired by the Official IRA in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday, but that none of those shots were fired before the Paras opened fire.
"When the shooting started on Bloody Sunday, when I was on Rossville Street, there was never any doubt in my mind that the shooting was coming from British soldiers."
Mr McCann is to continue giving evidence when the Inquiry resumes tomorrow.
PA