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Rival Irish republican groups disarm
Two Irish republican groups which fought a bitter feud in the 1970s have united to disarm their illegal arsenals.
The Official Republican Movement (ORM), a faction of the Official IRA, revealed today that it had put its weapons beyond use. Its statement came just under an hour after the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) announced it had decommissioned its weapons.
The INLA was responsible for more than 120 deaths during the Troubles, including the assassination of Margaret Thatcher's friend and ally Airey Neave MP in 1979. It was born out of a split within the Officials over the latters' decision to call a ceasefire in 1972.
In 1975 the INLA and the Official IRA were engaged in a violent feud that claimed several lives. The Officials later murdered the INLA's founder, Seamus Costello, who was leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.