The UK government "profoundly regrets and is truly sorry" for the events surrounding Ballymurphy in 1971, the NI secretary has told Parliament.
Brandon Lewis said this also extended to the families for the "additional pain" they have had to endure and at how investigations were handled.
An inquest found 10 people, who were shot in the wake of an Army operation in Belfast, were "entirely innocent".
Mr Lewis said the PM was writing to the families.
He said there was "no doubt what happened on those awful few days in Ballymurphy fuelled further violence and escalation, particularly in the early years of the Troubles".
"This government profoundly regrets and is truly sorry for these events, at how investigations after these terrible events were handled and for the additional pain that the families have had to endure in their fight to clear the names of their loved ones, since they began their campaign almost five decades ago," Mr Lewis said.
On Wednesday, Downing Street said Boris Johnson had apologised to Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers in a phone call.
But some victims' families said the remarks should have been made in public.
On Thursday, Mr Lewis told Parliament that he wanted "to put on record the government's acknowledgement of the terrible hurt" caused to the Ballymurphy families.
Among the Ballymurphy victims were a priest who was trying to help the wounded, a mother-of-eight and a former soldier who had lost his hand in World War Two.
Nine of the 10 victims were killed by the Army, the coroner said.
However, Mrs Justice Keegan said she could not definitively rule who shot the tenth victim, former World War Two soldier John McKerr.
Mr Lewis said the events at Ballymurphy should never have happened.
"The families of those who were killed should never have had to experience the grief and trauma of that loss," Mr Lewis said.
"Above all, they should not have had to wait nearly five decades for the judgement this week, nor have been compelled to relive that terrible time in August 1971, again and again in their long and distressing quest for truth."
He added that the desire for families of victims to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones was "strong and legitimate".
"Mr Speaker, this government wants to deliver a way forward in addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland, which will allow all individuals or families who want information, to seek and receive answers about what happened during the Troubles, with far less delay and distress," he said.
"We want a path forward which will also pave the way for wider societal reconciliation for all communities, allowing all the people of Northern Ireland to focus on building a shared, stable, peaceful, and prosperous future."
A number of MPs, responding to Mr Lewis, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson should have delivered the apology to Parliament.
The Downing Street statement on Wednesday said the prime minister "apologised unreservedly on behalf of the UK government for the events that took place in Ballymurphy and the huge anguish that the lengthy pursuit of truth has caused the families of those killed".
'Where is the prime minister today?'
Shadow NI Secretary Louise Haigh said the fact that families have had to wait for so long is a "profound failure of justice" and one to be learned from.
"In the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday inquiry, David Cameron came to this House and apologised in a statemenyt. He took full responsibility," Ms Haigh said.
"Where is the prime minister today and why has he not publicly apologised to the Ballymurphy families and to this House?"
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Gregory Campbell asked the secretary of state to ensure that the Ballymurphy families, or those of IRA killings, do not "suffer the ignominy of hearing about an amnesty".
The government is to bring forward legislation in the course of the next year to deal with legacy issues related to the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Based on details of the plan leaked last week, it is proposed that all prosecutions prior to 1998 and related to the Troubles will, in future, be banned under a statute of limitations.
Amnesty is a word which dare not cross the lips of government as it sets out its latest change of approach around the legacy of the Troubles.
There has yet to be a clear, public enunciation of what is proposed.
But it is this: a statute of limitations which would ban all prosecutions related to the Troubles.
Not just future cases, but potentially, those already in train.
It would apply across the board - to army veterans and former paramilitaries - on everything which happened before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The plan is the outworking of the government's pledge to protect soldiers who served in Northern Ireland.
Initial talks have taken place with political parties and meetings are planned with victims' groups.
Sources have told BBC News NI that there were many questions but very few detailed answers from the Secretary of State Brandon Lewis.
The plan has been met with loud opposition.
Already, many are jumping ahead to whether the government, with the numbers at Westminster, will legislate regardless.
The legacy plan would involve some form of investigations for families of the bereaved.
But they would be investigations for the purposes of information recovery, not prosecutions.
The government believes this is the key.
Mr Lewis it is important that the state takes accountability for what happened, but that it is important that "we get to the heart of what happened".
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Ballymurphy deaths were "sheer bloody murder".
"Will the secretary of state ask the prime minister to come out of hiding, come with me, meet the Ballymurphy families and tell them to their faces why he wants to protect the killers?"
Mr Lewis said the government will be considering the report in more detail to "reflect properly".
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiNWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1ub3J0aGVybi1pcmVsYW5kLTU3MDk0NzQ40gE5aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvbS9uZXdzL3VrLW5vcnRoZXJuLWlyZWxhbmQtNTcwOTQ3NDguYW1w?oc=5
2021-05-13 10:09:57Z
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