Mr. McCann made the claim during one of the last debates of the current term of the Stormont Assembly.

He said he would name the soldiers who had shot Mr. Johnston and Mr. McKinnie from the floor of the Assembly if he had to.

Addressing MLAs he said: “What is our approach to the murder by British soldiers of Robert Johnston and Robert McKinnie?

“Can we talk about them in the same breath as Bloody Sunday? Mr Johnston and Mr McKinnie from the Shankill Road were murdered - murdered - by the Parachute Regiment.

“Two entirely innocent, decent men, shot down and killed in September 1972, not just by the same regiment but by the same men.”

Mr. McCann threatened to name the soldiers who had shot the two west Belfast men.

“I can name them to you. If I have to, I will in this House. I will name the same people who went into Glenfada Park in the Bogside and murdered people.

“I have approached unionist representatives on the Shankill Road and have said, ‘Let’s get together and work on this. Let’s get the truth for those families’,” said Mr. McCann.

He claimed he was told not to interfere.

“I was told to my face, ‘It would be better if you did not intervene. You will only undermine us. You will associate us with people who are against the army and all the rest of it’.

“There you can see the way in which sectarian mindsets prevent justice from being delivered,” said the Foyle MLA.