Mo Mowlam: appalled and outraged

The Northern Ireland Secretary attacks the murders during a BBC TV interview

Government Calls Off Talks with Sinn Fein

The Prime Minister called it "a wicked and evil" act, and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, said she was appalled and outraged by the murders.

On the BBC TV's Six O'Clock News programme, she appealed to any faction thinking of revenge - "Don't do it." She said that if they reacted to the IRA's act of violence they would simply be "playing their game".

Despite cancelling talks with Sinn Fein, Dr Mowlam insisted the Government was still determined to move peace forward. But she added, "It is crude and unfair to start talking to anybody when we have two constables to bury this week in Ireland".

The deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Peter Robinson, said the IRA was trying to inflame tension.

The officers were shot dead near the centre of Lurgan, Co. Armagh. They were ambushed only yards from the town's police station, where they were shot in the head at close range. Both men died at the scene. The road has been cordoned off and the RUC immediately instigated a major security follow-up operation.

Seamus Mallon, SDLP MP for the Newry and Armagh, has denounced the murders, and fears the action my have been geared deliberately to provoke retaliation.

Irish Prime Minister John Bruton said first thoughts after the incident were "for the victims and their families who have suffered so grievously in this deliberately provocative and cowardly attack".

Blair and Bruton condemn "evil" attack

Tony Blair gives his reaction from Amsterdam

"No effort must be spared to ensure that the murderers are brought to justice. This atrocity must renew our common resolve that those who murdered these officers will meet the unyielding opposition of the overwhelming majority on these islands who are united in their rejection of the threat or the use of violence for political ends," he said.

The RUC later confirmed that a car was found burnt out in the nearby Kilwilkie estate - a strongly Republican area, although they could not confirm that it was used in the attack.

Eyewitnesses have confirmed that the two murdered policemen were local beat officers. There are also reports that two women were seen running from the scene, but the RUC have not said whether they may have been involved.

The shooting happened as Mo Mowlam began a series of crucial meetings on the developing parades crisis in Northern Ireland. This double murder is bound to inflame tensions between communities at a particularly difficult time. It is thought to be significant that Lurgan is part of a conurbation near Drumcree, the scene of violence after Loyalist marches last year.

Ahern Poised to Cancel Peace Talks

The IRA's double murder has left huge doubts over the chances of a meeting this week between Irish prime minister-in-waiting Bertie Ahern and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Mr Ahern, who will head a new Dublin government after this month's Irish general election, had lined up a "last-chance" session of head-to-head talks with Mr Adams ahead of his takeover of the premiership to plead again for a new IRA ceasefire.

However, he has told the hard-line Republican paramilitaries, "If you are going to keep up the killing, there is no point in talking to me."

McGuinness: on the defensive

BBC Radio's Jeremy Harris asks Martin McGuinness how the IRA attack can help peace

The current opposition chief had, until now, defied criticism of his move for dialogue - while also making it clear that in the absence of a restored cessation of terrorist violence there would be no more meetings once he became prime minister.

He has consistently maintained a line with the Sinn Fein leadership, despite the decision of current Irish premier, Mr Bruton, to ban all ministerial exchanges with Sinn Fein when the IRA's bombing of London's Canary Wharf ended the ceasefire early last yaer.

Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, told the BBC's World Tonight  programme that he was "saddened" by the attack and expressed his condolences to the officers' families.

When pressed on the issue of peace and how such an incident could help the process, he said that moves for peace must not be deflected, but that "politics failed the RUC [officers] that were killed in Lurgan".

Mr McGuinness also attacked the Government's "double-standards" for including in negotiations Loyalist groups "who had burned down Catholic schools".

America's President Clinton, in a written statement, said: "I am outraged by the callous murder by the IRA of two policemen in Northern Ireland. I condemn this brutal act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms."

"There is nothing patriotic or heroic about these cowardly killings," said Mr Clinton, and warned against retaliation. "Further violence can only play into the hands of those responsible for the vicious murders."

He also pledged to keep working for peace. "I will continue to do all I can to support...the efforts of the political leaders participating in the Belfast peace talks," he said.