Jeremy Corbyn has labelled 'abhorrent' after he declined to specifically denounce the IRA as terrorists.
Instead the Labour leader again condemned "all acts of violence from wherever they came" during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Critics have accused him of ‘whataboutery' and refusing to unequivocally condemn the IRA.
Conservative Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire also claimed Mr Corbyn had "IRA sympathies" as he urged him to make clear whether or not he believes that the group were terrorists.
Asked whether he condemned the IRA as terrorists, Mr Corbyn said: "I condemn all acts of violence in Northern Ireland wherever they came."
He added that peace in Northern Ireland was achieved “by a lot of bravery, both in the unionist community as well as in the nationalist community - people that walked a very difficult extra mile when they were under pressure from their communities not to do so - both republicans and unionists walked that extra mile and brought us the Good Friday Agreement”.
Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell have come under attack over their decades-long associations with Irish republicans.
Former Irish premier Bertie Ahern told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme: "Jeremy Corbyn, I think, always kept the door open to Sinn Fein during those difficult days.”
Mr McDonnell has apologised for comments he made praising the IRA's "bravery" in 2003.
But Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said Mr Corbyn's refusal to denounce the IRA as terrorists was "abhorrent" .
She added: “It's not just that he reached out to the IRA and spoke to them - there are many fine people who tried to speak to the IRA to ask them to desist and stop what they were doing.
"He actually supported them - he wanted the IRA to win.”
Tory Security minister Ben Wallace, who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, said: "It is a disgrace that a man who wants to be prime minister cannot describe the IRA as terrorists, and to suggest otherwise is an insult to the victims and relatives whose lives were devastated by the IRA's murderous campaign of violence.”
Later Mr Corbyn’s office released a series of answers to Mr Brokenshire’s questions.
Asked if the IRA’s acts of murder be condemned unequivocally, Mr Corbyn's team said “yes”.
In response to the question were the IRA terrorists, his aides replied: “Yes. The IRA clearly committed acts of terrorism."
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