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The Independent reports:

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was accused yesterday of ordering two murders carried out by the IRA, including a notorious incident in which a mother of 10 was shot dead and secretly buried.

The accusations are contained in a book, Voices from the Grave, by veteran journalist Ed Moloney, which is to be published this week.

They are based on the posthumous testimony of a former Belfast IRA commander, Brendan Hughes.

This is no surprise. The news is the unusual testimony, but the Sinn Fein leadership have always been IRA leaders also. Adams is thought to have been IRA Chief of Staff from from December 1977 to February 1978 and Martin McGuinness for five years after that.

What has surprised me is not that Adams and McGuinness used to order people to be killed, but how sucessful they have been in self-Government – especially McGuinness who serves as deputy First Minister to Ian Paisley.

I used to have immense hatred for the IRA, and their terrorist activities were despicable. However a negotiated peace settlement was the best way forward, and arguably Blair’s greatest legacy to the UK. It is a minor miracle that Sinn Fein and Paisley are working together to improve life in Northern Ireland, and the crimes of the past should remain there.