The allegation is double murder: A British ex-soldier, who was involved in the operation on "Blood Sunday" in 1972 in the Northern Irish town of Londonderry, must now answer to the court. In addition to the murders, he is accused of attempted murder in four cases, as the prosecutor in Northern Ireland announced.

Accordingly, there are insufficient evidence against 18 other suspects to justify prosecution, it said. The prosecutor's decision is considered a significant step in the resolution of the Northern Ireland conflict.

The year 1972 was one of the bloodiest in the conflict. British paratroopers shot and killed 30 Catholic protesters in Londonderry (Derry) on January 30, the Northern Ireland city's "Bloody Sunday." Another protester died of his injuries months later. As a result, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants intensified. In retaliation, the Irish Republican underground organization IRA made several attacks in the months following.

In the decades-long conflict, Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland faced Protestant unionists who want to continue to belong to Britain.

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Bloody Sunday: Shots on unprotected

The "Blood Sunday" had for the responsible security forces so far no criminal consequences. A commission set up by the British government came a little later to the conclusion that the elite soldiers had acted in self-defense. Also a British court evaluated the action of the soldiers as a legitimate self-defense against Irish terrorists. In contrast, a study published in 2010 concluded that the shots on Blood Sunday were not justified.

British Northern Ireland Minister Karen Bradley had recently roused protests because she had stated in the London House that killings by British soldiers and police in the Northern Ireland conflict should not be considered crimes.