The Sinn Fein Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brun, said yesterday she was deeply concerned at a report in yesterday's Sunday Times which claimed the Ministry of Defence had destroyed 13 rifles fired by British soldiers in Derry on Bloody Sunday 28 years ago.
The report said there was no legal obligation on the MoD to keep the self-loading rifles because representatives of the Saville inquiry into the January 1972 killing of 14 men had asked to examine the rifles only earlier this month.
Solicitors representing the families of the Bloody Sunday victims said that, if the Sunday Times report was true, the matter should be immediately investigated by the Saville inquiry team.
Ms de Brun told reporters at the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration march in Derry that the report was worrying.
"I haven't been able to see the detail, but what I would signal at this stage is extreme concern, when we're talking about accountability, when we're talking about truth, when we're talking about healing, that people could actually move to damage that process by destroying the very evidence that could lead finally to put this behind," she said.
The relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims yesterday called on the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to "honour his commitment and public announcement" that the inquiry into the killings would be open, independent and impartial.
Mr John Kelly, speaking for the relatives, said they believed obstacles were being placed in the way of the truth about what happened in Derry on January 30th, 1972.
"It is the collective view of all the families and of the wounded that obstacles such as granting partial immunity from prosecution to soldiers, the cloak of anonymity for the soldiers who shot our loved ones, the refusal by the Ministry of Defence to disclose army intelligence reports and the failure of the new inquiry to secure statements from soldiers are a cause of concern," he said.
Speaking at a family service at the Bloody Sunday memorial plinth in the Bogside yesterday morning, Mr Kelly said the relatives were still looking for justice and equality from the British government and the judicial system.
Several hundred people attended the service, among them the Mayor of Derry, Councillor Pat Ramsey, Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry, and SDLP and Sinn Fein Assembly members and councillors.
Prayers were said for the victims and their families and for all victims of violence in Ireland over the last 30 years. Afterwards relatives laid wreaths beside the plinth.