Political leaders from the UK, the US and both sides of the Irish border have taken part in a unique radio broadcast to commemorate the victims of Northern Ireland's Troubles.

The programme, an act of remembrance, was broadcast simultaneously in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, and in New York

Contributors included US President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.

Each read the story of the death of an individual from the book, Lost Lives, which catalogues the stories of everyone killed in the troubles.

The radio broadcast touched on just a small part of the book which records the circumstances in which each of the 3,637 victims of the troubles met their deaths.

But in demonstrating how different stories have touched different leaders, it identifies common themes of misery and loss, and sets the growing success of the peace process in context.

One of the most poignant contributions came from David Trimble, leader of Ulster's Unionist Party, who was close to tears as he remembered the 1994 murder of a man who worked as a cleaner at the Royal Ulster Constabulary station in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Fredrick Anthony was killed when his car was blown up by republicans. His wife and two children, who were also in the vehicle, were injured. Mr Anthony's daughter was hugging him at the time of the blast.

'Extremely emotional'

President Clinton recalled the tragedy of the Omagh bomb, focusing on the fate of Avril Monaghan, a mother-of-four, who was pregnant with twins at the time of the attack.

Twenty-nine people died and hundreds more were injured when a bomb detonated in the centre of the County Tyrone town by the Real IRA in 1998.

Mr Blair became extremely emotional as he recalled the murder of the Quinn brothers, who were killed earlier in the same year.

Richard Quinn, 11, and his brothers Mark, 10, and eight-year-old Jason died in their burning house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, after it was petrol-bombed by a loyalist gang.

The extract read by Mr Ahern reflected on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings in 1974.

Thirty-three people were killed in loyalist bombings in Dublin and the town of Monaghan near the Northern Ireland border on the same night. More than 200 were injured in what was the largest loss of life on a single day during Northern Ireland's troubles.

Journalists David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Chris Thornton and Brian Feeney took eight years to compile the book Lost Lives, which is almost a million words long.