Astonishing moment then-IRA man Martin McGuinness allows himself to be filmed loading a CAR BOMB into vehicle that exploded injuring 26: Access-all-areas 1972 documentary on Provos is unearthed featuring man who would become NI's Deputy First Minister

• e-mail

Ruthless IRA boss Martin McGuinness apparently helped set up a car bomb that later blew up in the Londonderry city centre, newly recovered video has revealed.

A documentary that was hidden away for nearly 50 years shows how a group of men, including McGuinness, seemingly packed explosives into a Volkswagen on a street in Londonderry, Northern Ireland before the vehicle was driven away.

The video then cuts to the moment a car bomb was detonated on Shipquay Street in 1972. The huge explosion injured 26 people and destroyed several buildings in the city centre.

BBC analysts have now determined the Volkswagen that McGuinness, then 21, helped pack with explosives was responsible for the bombing by connecting its registration plate to the one found at the blast site.

The car in the footage featured the number plate 7337 UI. Archival photographs from the explosion showed the same registration plate spewed amongst the wreckage.

The newly unmasked documentary, titled The Secret Army, was captured by an American film crew using fake press credentials and appears to be the first time McGuinness and his associates were filmed without disguises.

McGuinness was known as 'The Butcher of Bogside'. Feared for his murderous streak, he was the IRA's second-in-command in Londonderry during the Bloody Sunday Massacre, in which 13 innocent civilians were killed by British soldiers during a peaceful protest against internment in 1972.

The ex-Northern Ireland deputy first minister and Sinn Fein negotiator died in March 2017, aged 66, after suffering a rare heart condition. 

This is the moment ruthless IRA boss Martin McGuinness, pictured on far-left, apparently helped prepare a car bombing that left 26 injured in Londonderry

This is the moment a car bomb was detonated on Shipquay Street in 1972. The huge explosion injured 26 people and destroyed several buildings in the city centre

Analysts have now determined the Volkswagen that McGuinness, then 21, helped pack with explosives was responsible for the bombing by connecting its registration plate to the one found at the blast site

Pictured left to right: Martin McGuinness, the officer in charge of the Provisional IRA in Londonderry, David O'Connell, tactician officer of the IRA Provisionals, Sean MacStiofain, the IRA Provisionals Chief of staff and Seamus Twomey, officer in charge of the IRA Provisionals in Belfast on June 1, 1972

The documentary captured the terror group's rank-and-file personnel participating in shootings and bombings during their campaign in 1972.

McGuinness was the dominant IRA leader in Derry at the time and was among those followed around by The Secret Army producer J Bowyer Bell's camera crews. 

In one clip, McGuinness is seen driving around the city, his associate Tony Devine in the passenger seat, with guns in the vehicle. 

The camera crew also captured McGuinness showing bullets to children.

Devine, narrating for the crew, explained how every time they drive through Free Derry they 'check the barricades', which the IRA had put up to keep the Protestant police force out.

'At night every barricade is manned with vigilantes,' Devine said. 

The former IRA member, who still lives in Derry, told the BBC that he and McGuinness were 'only teenagers' at the time and 'weren't used to talking to film crews'.

Devine claims the crew had asked McGuinness to drive around and show them the area, but the leader said 'I'll only do it if you go with me'. 

The footage appeared to a show group of men, including McGuinness, packing explosives into a Volkswagen on a street in Londonderry before the vehicle was driven away

Another clip showed McGuinness, pictured, driving around the city with his associate Tony Devine in the passenger seat. The pair had guns in the vehicle. The camera crew also captured McGuinness showing bullets to children

The previously hidden documentary, titled The Secret Army, captured the IRA's rank-and-file personnel participating in shootings and bombings during their campaign in 1972

Martin McGuinness sits behind his desk in the Republican Information Centre office in Londonderry with a poster of Bobby Sands, the famous hunger striker, on the wall behind him on September 23, 1985

The crew filmed the IRA conducting several missions, including the Shipquay Street bombing and a gun battle on the edge of Free Derry.

However, it is understood that the organisation was very concerned with keeping the contents of the film secure and had even made a secret deal with the filmmakers giving them control over what was said or shown in the final film.

One crew member alleged that McGuinness even threatened to kill them if the undeveloped footage did not make it out of Northern Ireland safely. 

'You know if you don't get that film across the border I'll have to shoot you myself,' he reportedly told the crew member. 

A source provided the BBC with a copy of The Secret Army about six years ago. The documentary had essentially vanished after it was filmed for reasons that seemingly remain a mystery.

Historians told the broadcaster that just days after filming concluded, an IRA delegation was flown to London to hold 'secret talks' with the British Government.

The delegation was made up of IRA Chief of Staff Seán MacStiofáin, Dáithí Ó Conaill, Seamus Twomey, Martin McGuinness, Ivor Bell and Gerry Adams.

Bell and Adams were the only members of the delegation who were not recorded by the filmmakers.

Additionally, none of the IRA participants who spoke to the BBC about the film indicated that the footage was ever used against them.  

Gerry Adams (left) and Martin McGuinness (right) are pictured at the funeral of Patrick Kelly, 30, the reputed IRA commander in East Tyrone, in May 1987

This is the scene after an IRA exploded a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton in October 1984. Most of the British Cabinet were staying at the hotel for the Conservative Party Conference

Martin McGuinness leaves court in Belfast in 1976 after charges against him involving IRA membership were dropped

Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness is pictured at a rally in Belfast on Dec. 8, 1994. Behind him is Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams. The photograph was taken before McGuinness was meant to lead the Sin Fein delegation in talks with the British Government 

In 1972, at the age of 21, McGuinness was second-in-command of the IRA in Londonderry, a position he held at the time of Bloody Sunday, when 14 civil rights protesters were killed in the city by soldiers with the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.

The following year he was convicted by the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court after being arrested near a car containing explosives and ammunition.

After his release from jail, and another conviction in the Republic for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Fein, eventually becoming its best known face after Gerry Adams. 

During the Troubles McGuinness had read numerous academic dissertations which all concluded that the British Army could not militarily beat the IRA.

But he claimed he believed the IRA could not defeat the British and became motivated to convince people change 'could only happen through politics'.

He was in indirect contact with British intelligence during the hunger strikes in the early 1980s, and again in the early 1990s.

In 1982, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont representing his home city of Londonderry. He was the second candidate elected after John Hume. 

Queen Elizabeth II (2nd right) shakes hands with Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (left) watched by First Minister Peter Robinson (2nd left) and Prince Philip (right) at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland on June 27, 2012

Martin McGuinness, the officer in charge of the Provisional IRA in Londonderry, David O'Connell, tactician officer of the IRA Provisionals, Sean MacStiofain and the IRA Provisionals Chief of staff, on June 1, 1972

Martin McGuinness' funeral cortege passes through the streets of Derry on March 23, 2017 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He died on March 20th that year

Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill (front left), Mary Lou McDonald (middle left) and Gerry Adams, carry the coffin of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness down Westland Street into the Bogside ahead of his funeral at St Columba's Church Long Tower, in Londonderry on March 23, 2017

He eventually became Sinn Fein's chief negotiator in the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement which ended violence, secured IRA arms decommissioning in 2005 and shared government with former enemies.

He met Queen Elizabeth II during a cultural event at a Belfast theatre in June 2012. The pair shared a four-second handshake that made headlines around the globe.

After his handshake with the Queen, McGuinness said he 'genuinely regretted' every life lost during the Troubles.

McGuinness died in 2017, aged 66, in Londonderry after battling a short illness. The Sinn Fein veteran had been diagnosed with a rare heart condition year before.