THE Irish Republican Army formally ended more than 30 years of armed struggle in Northern Ireland overnight, pledging to lay down its weapons and fight British rule through purely peaceful means.
The British, Irish and US governments welcomed the statement as "historic" provided the Roman Catholic paramilitary group matched its words with deeds, but the head of the province's main Protestant party was more sceptical.
The IRA's order to abandon their armed campaign to unite Northern Ireland, which is mostly Protestant, with the Irish Republic came into effect at 4pm local time (0100 AEST).
Supporters say the move, which comes against the backdrop of worldwide revulsion over terrorism, is designed to revive the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement and the power-sharing institutions that have been suspended.
"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms," the group said, adding its militants "have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programs through exclusively peaceful means".
It said that militants "must not engage in any other activities whatsoever" and described the order as compulsory.
But the statement stopped short of disbanding the organisation, as demanded by leading Protestants, and it also omitted any apology for past bombings.
"Our decisions have been taken to advance our republican and democratic objectives, including our goal of a united Ireland," the group said.
"We believe there is now an alternative way to achieve this and to end British rule in our country."
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern released separate and joint statements welcoming the breakthrough.
"If the IRA's words are borne out by actions, it will be a momentous and historic development," the two men said in a joint statement.
"This may be the day when finally after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaces war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," added Blair in a separate comment. "This is a step of unparallelled magnitude in the recent history of Northern Ireland."
In Washington, US President George W Bush's chief spokesman Scott McClellan called the announcement "an important and potentially historic statement".
But Ian Paisley, the fiery leader of Northern Ireland's main Protestant party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), was far more cautious, noting that the IRA statement lacked an explicit call to end criminal activity.
"They have failed to provide the level of transparency that will be necessary to truly build confidence that the guns have gone in their entirety," he said, insisting it would delay the whole process.
A comprehensive agreement to reinstate power-sharing between Protestants and Catholics stalled in December after the DUP demanded that disarmament of the paramilitary IRA be documented in photographs.
Today's announcement comes after the IRA suffered major blows to its credibility in recent months, over its alleged involvement in a massive bank heist in Belfast and the murder of an Irish Catholic man earlier this year.
In April, Gerry Adams, the leader of the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, made a direct appeal to the paramilitary group to embrace purely political and democratic activity.
The IRA has held secret consultations with its membership over the future of the movement for months.
Calling the IRA decision "courageous", Adams said it "can help revive the peace process" and challenged the Protestant community to respond.
In an immediate response to the statement, the international commission charged with monitoring disarmament said it had resumed contact with the IRA after having suspended contacts over the bank heist.
Martin McGuinness, the chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, is in Washington to brief those concerned in the US Congress and in New York about developments.
On Tuesday Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell said Adams, McGuinness and convicted gun runner Martin Ferris - now a member of the Irish parliament - had left the ruling "military council" of the IRA.
The Sinn Fein trio have previously denied that they were on the ruling body of the underground military organisation, which is responsible for dozens of bombings around Britain over the decades.
The IRA declared a ceasefire before the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that largely ended the violence and paved the way for a Protestant-Catholic power-sharing assembly in Belfast.
But that deal was suspended almost three years ago amid allegations of IRA espionage.
Even if the IRA lays downs its arms for good, Northern Ireland could still be bogged down by bickering between Catholic and Protestant parties.
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EXTREMISTS living in Ireland may be plotting atrocities across Europe, the country's justice minister Michael McDowell said yesterday. Mr McDowell said members of radical terrorist groups may be basing themselves in Ireland in order to avail of the "common travel area" between the state and the UK. "In the past there has been evidence that some people in Ireland, who have an extremist point of view, have been engaging in logistical support activities for terrorist-type activities in Europe and elsewhere. That is a worrying thing," the justice minister said.