Northern Ireland's deputy first minister has accused Tony Blair of failing to back calls for the dismissal of two soldiers who murdered a Belfast teenager a decade ago.

The SDLP's leader Mark Durkan said on Wednesday that the government's treatment of Peter McBride's family "makes a mockery of basic standards of justice and human rights".

Durkan also urged the prime minister to meet relatives of the dead teenager.

Two Scots Guardsmen, Mark Wright and James Fisher, were convicted of murdering McBride at a security checkpoint in nationalist north Belfast in September 1992.

The two men were released early and allowed to resume their military careers by the Army Board."I am deeply disappointed that Tony Blair has defended the handling of this case," Durkan said.

"Tony Blair restates his commitment to human rights. But this commitment cannot be reconciled with the actions of the British government. Murder is murder. It doesn't matter who carried it out, it should be treated equally seriously yet it is obvious this has not happened in this case."

His call came as Northern Ireland secretary, Dr John Reid, accused Republic and loyalist paramilitaries of destroying their communities along the "peace line".

Reid met Protestant residents in one area that have been hit by the new wave of sectarian attacks.

"The paramilitaries and some of the young hotheads are interwoven with the community because we've all had trouble over the years,'' he said.

"The first thing that we have to do is recognised that the blame game, everybody blaming everybody else, has to stop. There are good, decent people here who are going through hell - some of them for 30 years on both sides, and the first thing that the paramilitaries have got to recognise is that they are not defending their communities. They are destroying them.''