SAS men called to explain '84 killings

Daniel Doherty, 23, and William Fleming, 19, were shot dead in an ambush in the grounds of the Gransha Hospital in December 1984.

It was alleged that the pair, who were both from the city, were planning to carry out an attack on an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment soldier when the SAS opened fire.

An inquest was held two years after the shootings but in 2010 Northern Ireland's Attorney General John Larkin ordered another hearing after it emerged that police documents had been withheld from the coroner.

But the new inquest was suspended last year along with several others by Northern Ireland's tsenior coroner John Leckey, who questioned whether Mr Larkin had exceeded his powers.

A High Court judge subsequently granted interim relief to Julie Doherty, the widow of Mr Doherty, that enabled a preliminary inquest hearing to progress today pending a scheduled judicial review into Mr Leckey's decision next month.

After the preliminary hearing in Belfast, Fearghal Shiels of Madden and Finucane Solicitors claimed the SAS soldiers had not provided full details on the ambush when interviewed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

He said they also did not reveal whether they had been involved in other "lethal force incidents."

"We have requested that the soldiers responsible for killing the deceased provide new detailed statements outlining the planning and control of the military operation and providing details of other lethal force incidents where death or serious injury occurred," he said.