A Northern Ireland victims' group has called for an independent judicial inquiry into more than 100 killings by loyalist paramilitaries.

It follows the broadcast of the second part of a BBC Panorama programme alleging collusion between the security services and loyalists.

The Relatives for Justice Group gathered in Belfast on Monday to demand an outside investigation into the allegations.

The group, based in west Belfast, is mostly made up of nationalists whose relatives have been killed by the security forces in disputed circumstances.

Mark Thompson: Call for inquiry

Group spokesman Mark Thompson said lives were devastated by the actions of the security services and that responsibility lay "squarely with the British Government".

"The gravity of this situation should not be dealt with by internal police investigations nor by investigative television documentaries drip feeding information but by a full independent international judicial inquiry into the arming, controlling, and directing of loyalist death squads by the British Government."

'Collaborated'

Sunday night's Panorama programme looked at several killings by loyalists including the high profile murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.

It alleged elements within Northern Ireland's police and military intelligence collaborated with loyalist paramilitaries in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the murder of Catholics.

A man identified as a loyalist killer told the programme the targets included Mr Finucane, who was murdered 13 years ago.

Since 1989, Sir John Stevens, who is now commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has been investigating the allegation that shadowy elements within military intelligence and the RUC Special Branch were colluding with loyalist assassination squads.

His report is due out in the coming weeks.

The RUC became the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in November last year.