Two retired RUC officers yesterday told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that they heard sub-machine-gun fire being directed at paratroopers as they were deployed into the Bogside area of Derry 30 years ago.
Thirteen people were killed and 13 others wounded during the Bloody Sunday killings, and one of the former police officers told the inquiry yesterday that he believed the casualties resulted from a gun battle between the British army and the IRA.
Former sergeant Neil Falkingham told the inquiry's three judges that he heard two bursts of "Thompson-type machine-gun" fire from his position at William Street, about 300 yards from the scene of the Bloody Sunday killings.
"I confirm that the automatic gunfire lasted for about 45 seconds. I then heard high velocity gunfire which I knew to be the sound of army-issue rifles. The sound of the Thompson (sub- machine-gun) and the high velocity fire almost certainly overlapped for a short time.
"It could be described as an exchange of gunfire between opposing sides. I am not sure how long the high velocity shots went on for. It was usual to hear perhaps one or two shots, but this was sustained shooting and it was apparent to me that something quite serious was occurring," he said.
Mr Falkingham, who said he heard neither nail bombs nor blast bombs exploding on Bloody Sunday, said he believed "the people died in a gun battle, there was obviously a lot of shots fired and there was a gun battle".
Former constable Raymond Gaston Kirk, who was also positioned on the south side of William Street, said he witnessed automatic fire being directed at the paratroopers as they moved into the Bogside prior to the killings of 13 civilians.
"I cannot remember where that firing was coming from and I had no idea who was firing it, but I had the clear impression that the firing was directed at the paratroopers because of the way they immediately dropped down to the ground and took cover," he said in evidence. "I recall going back to the station, to the Victoria Police Station, and I recall, in fact it is one of the few things that I have a clear memory of, was hearing that people actually, maybe it was two or three people, who were dead, and then hearing there was more people shot. I found it strange that I was not that far away and did not realise that so many people had been killed," he said.
A third police officer on Bloody Sunday, Mr Sampson Trotter, said he found one nail bomb on the body of Mr Gerry Donaghy, after the fatally wounded teenager had been driven to an army base at Foyle Road, about one mile from the Bogside killings. The witness said he saw a bulge in Mr Donaghy's right hand trouser pocket.
"I therefore leaned in and pulled his right-hand trouser pocket to one side. In doing this and stretching the entrance to the pocket, I could see quite clearly that there was a bunch of nails with black tape around them," he said.
Mr Trotter said he was unaware, until he had read recently, that a total of four nail bombs were found on Mr Donaghy's body. He was not aware of rumours circulating within the police that the devices had been planted.
Asked by Mr Christopher Clarke, counsel to the inquiry, why he had made no reference to the nail bomb in his original 1972 statement, Mr Trotter said "it was probably expedient to cut it short".
The inquiry continues.