THREE Northern Irish paramilitary factions announced the destruction of their illegal arsenals yesterday, 24 hours before an amnesty on the movement of weapons by groups carrying out decommissioning ends.

A second republican paramilitary group in the North announced today that it had decommissioned its weapons.

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) confirmed announced today that it has decommissioned its weapons.

A republican paramilitary group which killed more than 100 people is poised to announce today that it has decommissioned its weapons.

LEADERS of the Ulster Defence Association have confirmed it has decommissioned all weapons under its control.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese said the announcement by the UDA was a positive milestone on the journey to peace.

Leaders of the Ulster Defence Association confirmed today that it had decommissioned all weapons under its control.

The Ulster Defence Association will announce today it has completed the decommissioning of its weapons.

Details of the Ulster Defence Association’s decommissioning of weapons are expected to be revealed at a meeting today.

A MASSIVE 600-lb bomb planted close to the border with the North was intended to murder police officers, a security chief said last night.

The last remaining armed loyalist paramilitary groups in the North have pledged to decommission all their weapons within six months, the British Government announced today.

The decommissioning body led by General John de Chastelain has confirmed that the UVF has disarmed.

THE Government has welcomed the announcement by loyalist groups that they have destroyed their weapons and pledged to respect democratic rule.

The Ulster Defence Association will not receive public money in exchange for destroying weapons, the North’s deputy First Minister said today.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North have destroyed their weapons and pledged to respect democratic rule, it was announced today.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North today confirmed they have started to decommission their weapons.

The North’s loyalist communities must be freed from the shadow of the gun through the complete removal of illegal weapons, the Church of Ireland said today.

Three loyalist paramilitary groups in the North have started to decommission their weapons after painstaking behind-the-scenes efforts to secure disarmament.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North could be on the verge of decommissioning their weapons, it was claimed today.

Loyalist paramilitaries must begin the process of decommissioning their weapons, the North's Secretary of State Shaun Woodward said today.

The IRA could be taken off the British government's list of banned organisations, it was disclosed today.

The loyalist Ulster Defence Association’s announcement that it was standing down its military wing and putting weapons 'beyond use' from midnight last night was welcomed - coupled with the message it was not enough.

The largest loyalist paramilitary group in the North has begun meaningful efforts to to disarm, it was confirmed today.

The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in the North has presented its latest report on demilitarisation to the British and Irish governments.

The British government was today accused of being involved in a cover-up over the IRA’s final act of disarmament.

A new bid to bring back devolution to the North got under way today.

The IRA has denied that some of its members have held onto handguns and other weapons.

DUBLIN and London last night moved swiftly to bring Sinn Féin in from the cold, despite ceasefire observers giving the IRA’s claims of abandoning violence and crime only a limited endorsement.

The priest who witnessed IRA decommissioning provoked fury after he compared the unionist community to Nazis for their treatment of Catholics in the North.

One of the independent church witnesses to IRA decommissioning tonight compared the unionist community to Nazis for their treatment of Catholics in Northern Ireland.

More and more unionists in the North will slowly accept that the IRA has decommissioned all its arms, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams claimed today.

The US politician who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement urged all parties in the North today to move forward following the IRA decommissioning.

THE Irish and British Governments yesterday powerfully backed the international decommissioning body’s determination that the IRA has fully destroyed its vast arsenal of weapons, describing it as a landmark shift of deep historical significance.

IN his opening remarks, Gen de Chastelain said it was vital that the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning told it “only as we saw it. We do not believe it is for us to editorialise.”

FOR three weeks in September, General John de Chastelain and his two colleagues on the international decommissioning body were driven around in a van with blacked-out windows to secret places where vast quantities of IRA arms awaited them.

DEMOCRATIC Unionist Party leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley, said there had been no transparent verification of decommissioning in yesterday’s IRA announcement.

The act of decommissioning by the IRA has finally taken the gun out of Irish politics, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

Democratic Unionist Party leader the Reverend Ian Paisley said there had been no transparent verification of IRA decommissioning in today's announcement.

President Mary McAleese has said today's IICD statement will remove a major obstacle to the search for a lasting and peaceful solution to the problems which have beset Northern Ireland for so long.

General John de Chastelain has said the IRA has disarmed "the totality of its arsenal".

THE IRA last night faced new demands to begin its promised disarmament amid a developing security scaledown in the North.

The IRA tonight faced new demands to begin its promised disarmament amid a developing security scaledown in the North.

Gerry Adams today celebrated the removal of a military watchtower despised by republicans in west Belfast and suggested a possible relocation on the Rev Ian Paisley’s church rooftop.