Comment: Long suspected now admitted.
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BBC News
Speaking publicly for the first time, the ex-members of the
Military Reaction Force (MRF), which was disbanded in 1973, said they
had been tasked with "hunting down" IRA members in Belfast.
The former soldiers said they believed the unit had saved many lives.
The Ministry of Defence said it had referred the disclosures to police.
'Surveillance from gutters'
The details have emerged a day after Northern Ireland's attorney general, John Larkin, suggested ending any prosecutions over Troubles-related killings that took place before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The proposal has been criticised by groups representing relatives of victims.
Before it was disbanded 40 years ago, after 18 months, plain-clothes soldiers carried out round-the-clock patrols of west Belfast - the heartland of the IRA - in unmarked cars.
Three former members of the unit, who agreed to be interviewed on condition their identities were disguised, said they had posed as Belfast City Council road sweepers, dustmen and even "meths drinkers", carrying out surveillance from street gutters.
But surveillance was just one part of their work.
One of the soldiers said they had also fired on suspected IRA members.
He described their mission as "to draw out the IRA and to minimise their activities... if they needed shooting, they'd be shot".
[...] Panorama has identified 10 unarmed civilians shot, according to witnesses, by the MRF:
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BBC News
Soldiers from an
undercover unit used by the British army in Northern Ireland killed
unarmed civilians, former members have told BBC One's Panorama.
The former soldiers said they believed the unit had saved many lives.
The Ministry of Defence said it had referred the disclosures to police.
'Surveillance from gutters'
The details have emerged a day after Northern Ireland's attorney general, John Larkin, suggested ending any prosecutions over Troubles-related killings that took place before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The proposal has been criticised by groups representing relatives of victims.
The soldiers appeared on Panorama on condition their identities were disguised
Panorama has been told the MRF consisted of about 40 men handpicked from across the British army.Before it was disbanded 40 years ago, after 18 months, plain-clothes soldiers carried out round-the-clock patrols of west Belfast - the heartland of the IRA - in unmarked cars.
Three former members of the unit, who agreed to be interviewed on condition their identities were disguised, said they had posed as Belfast City Council road sweepers, dustmen and even "meths drinkers", carrying out surveillance from street gutters.
But surveillance was just one part of their work.
One of the soldiers said they had also fired on suspected IRA members.
He described their mission as "to draw out the IRA and to minimise their activities... if they needed shooting, they'd be shot".
[...] Panorama has identified 10 unarmed civilians shot, according to witnesses, by the MRF:
- Brothers John and Gerry Conway, on the way to their fruit stall in Belfast city centre on 15 April 1972
- Aiden McAloon and Eugene Devlin, in a taxi taking them home from a disco on 12 May 1972
- Joe Smith, Hugh Kenny, Patrick Murray and Tommy Shaw, on Glen Road on 22 June 1972
- Daniel Rooney and Brendan Brennan, on the Falls Road on 27 September 1972
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