All-out Dublin gang war sparked by the murder on Wednesday of Johnny 'Champagne' Carroll

Gardai in Dublin were working last night to head off an all-out gang war which was sparked by the murder on Wednesday of Johnny 'Champagne' Carroll, one of the city's top drug dealers.Eight men and three women were being questioned by detectives in five separate stations around the city centre yesterday evening and arrests are expected.The republican splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army, is at the centre of the threatened war and its members are believed responsible for murdering Carroll, 33, in Grumpy Jack's pub in the Coombe.The gang suspected of carrying out the murder is headed by the INLA leader in Dublin, a man aged in his 30s who currently lives in Finglas, and his close associate, a major Dublin criminal figure who has been involved in drug smuggling since the Eighties. Carroll was killed because the gang wished to take over his drug-dealing turf on the north side of the city.Last night, gardai were on high alert as Carroll's associates, who include some of the most violent criminals in the south inner city, were swearing to avenge his murder.