DUBLIN — The British cabinet minister for Northern Ireland apologized on Thursday after causing widespread anger by asserting in Parliament that killings by soldiers and the police during the decades-long conflict there “were not crimes.”

The remarks from the minister, Karen Bradley, made on Wednesday, were particularly inflammatory because they came a week before prosecutors in Northern Ireland were scheduled to decide whether to charge British former soldiers over their roles in one of the conflict’s deadliest days: Jan. 30, 1972, known as Bloody Sunday. On that day, members of the Parachute Regiment fatally shot 13 unarmed protesters and bystanders in Londonderry. A 14th died months later.

Within hours of making her comments, faced with widespread condemnation in Ireland and elsewhere, Ms. Bradley returned to Parliament and said that she wanted to “clarify,” adding that her earlier statement “was not referring to any specific cases but expressing a general view.”

On Thursday, she offered a further, written statement, declaring that she was “profoundly sorry” for “the offense and hurt” caused by her words.