The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, has called for an independent public inquiry into the events leading to the killing of LVF leader Billy Wright inside the Maze prison on Saturday.
He also called for the resignation of the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, saying both her security policy and her political judgment had been proved to be "dubious and disastrous for Northern Ireland".
"The paramilitaries run the Maze just as they dictate the pace of the so-called peace process," Dr Paisley said, adding that as a result of the peace process there had been "far more concessions inside the prison than ever before".
Dr Paisley's comments came as the chairman of the North's Prison Officers' Association, Mr Finlay Spratt, said a prison officer in a watchtower close to the shooting scene had been moved from his post minutes before the shooting. The man was allocated to other duties in circumstances which have still to be clarified.
Shortly before the shooting, Mr Spratt said, the officer was told to leave the tower and was assigned instead to accompany prisoners on visits. Mr Spratt said this officer complained to the local branch officer of the POA about the tower being left unmanned, who in turn complained to the prison governor. The officer was eventually told to return to the tower, but by this time, the three INLA inmates who carried out the attack were scrambling back over the roof.
Mr Spratt said observation towers were left unmanned on a regular basis. "What they have been doing repeatedly over the last number of years, because of a shortage of staff and because they are so liberal with the number of visits they are giving prisoners, is to stand down the towers," he said.
Asked about this at a press conference yesterday the North's security minister, Mr Adam Ingram, said he could not discuss details of security measures at the prison.
Dr Paisley said he was "alarmed" at Mr Spratt's remarks. He did not believe the killing of Wright had occurred because of an operational failure within the Maze prison, "but it was allowed to happen because of a strategic failure for which the NIO is responsible".
He also criticised the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, saying Dr Mowlam was carrying out his policy.
"Blair is responsible for the policy, and his Secretary of State must now go, and we need a change of policy". He said it was not enough to make "a few cosmetic changes", because prison policy was "rotten".
Mr Peter Robinson, the DUP deputy leader, said there must be a full inquiry.
Dr Paisley denied the DUP had links with the LVF. His party had never been "in cahoots with any paramilitary organisation". He said his party colleague, the Rev William McCrea, shared a platform with Billy Wright in September of last year because of a death threat issued against the LVF leader by the Combined Loyalist Military Command. Dr Paisley said he was against "any threats against anybody".
"In no way can murder be condoned, and no one should take the law into their own hands and go out on a campaign of retaliation and murder," he said.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party leader, Lord Alderdice, has called on Dr Mowlam to recall the parties to the talks for an immediate session on the deteriorating security situation.
He said the failure of the parties to the talks to reach agreement before Christmas and "the long-standing problems with the government's prison policy" had contributed to the current situation.
Lord Alderdice said he had doubts that measures to increase security in the Maze Prison announced yesterday would "in themselves create a climate of confidence".
In Derry yesterday residents of several houses close to Abbey Street were evacuated for more than six hours after a hijacked taxi was abandoned in the district shortly before midday. After an examination of the vehicle, police declared the area safe at 6.30 p.m.