From his toes to his groin, they used iron bars. For his upper body, they brought nail-studded cudgels. He had no chance.

It was eight against one. His friends could hear the sound of the iron bars cracking against his bones and of Paul Quinn begging for mercy.

At first, his voice was loud and strong.

As the beating went on, it grew weaker.

Eventually, it faded away. Those who saw him in the coffin said his head was badly swollen, and there were huge gashes on his face. He was just 21 years old.

An account of Quinn's killing last Saturday night has been given to the Sunday Tribune by friends and neighbours.

Despite Sinn Fein denials, locals insist the Provisional IRA as an organisation . . . not ex-members nor criminals . . . was responsible. They say the orders came from the South Armagh OC (officer commanding) and were approved by a longtime local Provisional who sits on the army council.

Near the hunger strike memorial at Cullyhanna, where Quinn lived, 'IRA are murderin' scum. RIP Paul', is written on a wall. 'Blood is on your hands', and the name of a local man, whose windows were broken hours after the killing, is on another. Nobody ever thought they'd see this in south Armagh. The 'sniper at work' sign has long gone, but there's more tension than ever.

"In the past, people privately might have said 'that's awful', but they'd go home and close their doors, " says one local man. "This time, we're on new territory. There's been solidarity with the Quinns . . . 1,000 people went to the funeral. Paul's killers were psychopaths who have denigrated republicanism."

At Quinn's wake, a woman said: "We lived with the bomb and bullet for years, but we were always safe from each other, we never had to lock our doors. Now that's changed."

A man told the family: "Even if Paul had done something wrong, they should have shot him cleanly, not killed him like that."

Former Sinn Fein councillor Jim McAllister says: "Gerry Adams said the IRA hadn't gone away. Well, it's time it did.

What is the Provisional IRA for now?

It's accepted partition and, to use old terminology, the crown forces. The IRA has lost its authority among young people, although it acts as if it hasn't.

"Paul Quinn had run-ins with Provos, that's why he's dead. To claim otherwise is lies. I saw this brewing a long time. I saw the day approaching when young people would say, 'IRA, my arse'. I don't regret my years in the republican movement.

There were good people with noble ideals there, but most have gone. The ones left are surrounded by low-lifes. The two Brendans (Burns and Moley, dead IRA volunteers) would be turning in their graves."

McAllister left Sinn Fein, disillusioned but on friendly terms with the party, in 1997. He lives in a ramshackle house in Cullyhanna. Half a dozen old clocks chime every 15 minutes. A Long Kesh harp sits in the corner and two vases of sweet pea sit above a roaring fire. Richard Dawkins, Descartes, Joyce, Beckett and O'Casey line the bookshelves.

He takes down The Complete Poems of Patrick Kavanagh. "I once gave Gerry Adams a copy of this book because he said he'd like one for Christmas. There's a poem I'd recommend Gerry read now because dead republicans like Bobby Sands and Michael McVerry (local IRA man shot dead by British soldiers) are disgracefully being used to justify certain things."

McAllister reads the verse: "They put a wreath upon the dead/ For the dead will wear the cap of any racket/ The corpse will not put his elbows through his jacket/ Or contradict the word some liar has said."

McAllister knows the Quinns well, "an inoffensive, apolitical family". Paul Quinn was "a typical lad, up to mischief no more nor less than any other", McAllister says.

"There aren't many altar boys in south Armagh. If they've any balls, the young men here stand up for themselves, then calm down later on. Paul didn't go looking for trouble but he never ran from it.

That was his 'crime'."

Once, Quinn had a few drinks too many and accidentally knocked the pillar off the church gate coming home. The priest laughed when he returned with his father to fix it the next day. Two recent altercations with local Provisionals and their associates were more serious.

"Three months ago, " says McAllister, "Paul's parked car was rammed by another vehicle containing four young men.

Paul gave chase. He caught one and gave him a thump and a kick up the arse. That young man went home and told mummy and daddy."

The young man's father is the South Armagh OC and a diesel launderer. He's spent a short time in prison. His name is known to the Sunday Tribune. After the incident, the OC's wife arrived at the Quinn's to threaten Paul, according to several sources including McAllister.

"There'll be a body in a bin bag, " she allegedly said.

Two months later, Quinn fought with a close associate of Slab Murphy's family, whose name is also known to the Sunday Tribune. "This man is a Provo hanger-on, " says McAllister. "You see him with Brian Keenan (ex-army council member who is dying of cancer). If he's in the IRA, it's only on paper. He's never seen active service in his life.

"But he has enough clout that when he tells the Provos about something, they send the boys round for revenge. He's very dangerous to cross. A local kick-boxer who confronted him got an awful beating.

So did the kick-boxer's brother."

Last month, Quinn's sister Cathy was insulted by this man in a Crossmaglen taxi depot, McAllister claims. "She told Paul who went to the man's house and gave him a black eye."

Around 4.30pm last Saturday, two cousins who were friends of Quinn's were working on a family farm just across the border near Oram, Co Monaghan.

Around a dozen masked men with local accents arrived and beat them, although not as badly as they later beat Quinn. The cousins were tied up in a shed. They were forced to phone Quinn, luring him to the farm by claiming they needed help shifting cattle. Quinn and a friend set off. When they arrived at the farm, Quinn's friend was taken to the shed where the other two were held.

"Paul was brought to a separate shed, " says McAllister. "It was horrific for the lads. 'Can you hear your friend screaming?' the men asked them. And they could hear the Provos in the other shed shouting at Paul, 'You know who polices this place!'

"Around eight men beat Paul; another four guarded his friends. But there were undoubtedly others outside scouting in case the guards or neighbours arrived.

Before their assailants left, they smashed the young lads' mobile phones so they couldn't summon help. But they didn't find one phone. The lad rang Paul's girlfriend Emma who rang an ambulance.

"If his attackers' aim wasn't to kill Paul, it was at least to put him in a wheelchair for life. It shows the calibre of the c**ts coming through Provisional IRA ranks. It's ludicrous to suggest a nonparamilitary group of masked men is running around abducting and beating people like this."

Quinn's friends are traumatised. "I've seen the cousins. They're big lads but they looked small, " says McAllister. "The shock was all over their faces. I put my hand on the shoulder of one and asked, 'Are you all right?' I was standing beside him but he didn't hear or see me. The third lad keeps hearing Paul's screams and the sound of the iron bars over and over again in his head."

Sinn Fein's denial of IRA involvement holds little sway in Cullyhanna. A local man says for the first time no-one was outside St Patrick's Church in the village selling An Phoblacht last Sunday: "It was guilt or fear of confrontation."

One local man is insistent Quinn was killed over fights with the Provisionals, not over fuel. "Diesel men don't kill diesel men. They might have the odd row about territory but it's settled peacefully."

Jim McAllister has faith in the investigation by rank-and-file gardai: "My fear is political pressure will be exerted on senior gardai to obtain a different result than where the evidence leads them."

He lists many other beatings in south Armagh, including one of an ex-Sinn Fein councillor's son, which have never been publicised.

"The Provos play on old-style republicans not going to the police or media. But we're setting up a committee in the next fortnight to help those under threat. We want no more children beaten or killed.

Let's make sure that these things are no longer hidden, that the days when nothing was seen or heard are over, that the bullies' time is up."

Is McAllister not afraid of the personal risk outspokenness brings? "I've received great local support. No-one has said I'm wrong. I'm past being frightened anyway. But if something happens me or my three children, you'll know it wasn't diesel launderers."