BELFAST, Northern Ireland, May 30 (UPI) -- Gen. Mike Jackson, former chief of staff for the British Army, says innocent people undoubtedly lost their lives on Bloody Sunday.
Fourteen people were killed in the Jan. 30, 1972, shooting incident that broke out during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. At the time, Jackson was a captain who was second in command of the parachute regiment involved in the shootings.
"I have no doubt that innocent people were shot," Jackson said a BBC interview aired Tuesday night.
The now-retired officer said, however, he was not prepared to apologize for the deadly incident. The Telegraph said Jackson instead suggested such a measure would be better suited for the head of the British inquiry into Bloody Sunday, Lord Mark Saville.
"I think that's again, again you're begging a very big question and I'm not prepared to, I think, go down those sort of roads until I see what Lord Saville has to say," he said.
The Telegraph reported that it is thought to be the first time he has said publicly that innocent people were killed.
