‘I lay in pool of blood after being shot at point blank range while undercover in Northern Ireland’

A former undercover soldier, identified as Blue, has publicly described being shot during a surveillance operation in South Derry in 1978. The attack left him gravely wounded, his partner mortally wounded and a wanted IRA gunman injured but able to escape, revealing the risks of covert intelligence work during the Troubles.

Blue was 22 and serving with 14 Intelligence Company when he and his partner watched a farm linked to an associate of IRA gunman Francis “Frankie” Hughes. On 17 March, two armed men approached in clothing that looked like military uniform; believing they might be British soldiers, the pair stayed hidden rather than risk exposing the wider operation. The article says the men opened fire at close range and Blue was shot three times.