(CNN) A former British soldier will stand trial for firing on civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland in 1972, an event that came to be known as Bloody Sunday, prosecutors said. But 16 other ex-paratroopers and and two former members of the Official IRA will face no action.

The army veteran, known as Soldier F, has been charged with the murder of demonstrators James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murders of four other men, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland said Thursday.

Bloody Sunday was one of the darkest episodes in Northern Ireland's Troubles. On 30 January 1972 troops fired on unarmed protesters in a civil rights march in Derry, also known as Londonderry, killing 13 people and wounding 15. One injured man died four months later.

The families of the victims have campaigned for decades for the former soldiers to face justice. Relatives were visibly upset following the announcement of the decision.

Solicitor Ciaran Shiels, a solicitor for a number of them, said they were "disappointed that not all of those responsible are to face trial."

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