Tuesday 9am: Bewildered residents who woke to find their streets full of police finally learn what is going on, when Metropolitan Commissioner Sir Ian Blair announced that a series of raids “directly connected to the outrages on Thursday” was underway.

The UK's top policeman, London Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens, has revealed that he is inquiring into a further 10 murders, in which loyalists and the RUC or British army may have colluded.

BRITAIN last night faced new demands to call an international judicial inquiry after a European Court of Human Rights ruling which claimed the Royal Ulster Constabulary investigation of the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane was ineffective.

The IRA leadership has ordered an immediate review of its internal security as British military authorities today made arrangements for a new life for one of their top spies in Northern Ireland.