Northern Ireland's education minister, Martin McGuinness, is to tell the official inquiry into the events of bloody Sunday in 1972 that he was second in command of the provisional IRA's Derry unit at the time of the shootings.

He has never before publicly admitted his terrorist background, but is understood to be planning to tell the inquiry that he was told to order his team not to fire on British soldiers for fear of precipitating violence.

He rubbishes claims that he actually fired the first shots that led to the deaths of 14 unarmed Catholic demonstrators.