Two Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have announced they have decommissioned their weapons and a third has said it will follow suit.

Both the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and its splinter group the Red Hand Commando (RHC) declared their weapons and explosives were “totally and irreversibly beyond use” today while the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), stated it is in the middle of handing its arms over. Shaun Woodward, secretary of state for Northern Ireland said it was an historic day for people in Northern Ireland.

The UVF said it had destroyed its entire arsenal, with a further major disarmament act from the RHC. The UDA released a statement in Belfast confirming it had decommissioned a portion of its illegal arsenal and had started a process that would lead to the destruction of all its arms.

The UVF leadership today said: "We have done so to further augment the establishment of accountable democratic governance in this region of the UK, to remove the pretext that loyalist weaponry is an obstacle to the development of our communities and to compound our legacy of integrity to the peace process."

A UDA statement said: “The struggle has ended. Peace and democracy have been secured and the need for armed resistance has gone. Consequently we are putting our arsenal of weaponry permanently beyond use.”

"The dark days are now behind us and it is time to move on. There is no place for guns and violence in the new society we are building. It is time to work for a better future."

Over a 1,000 have lost their lives during the Troubles to the Protestant paramilitary groups. Dawn Purvis, leader of the Loyalist-linked Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) said the “war is over” adding that today was a “momentous day” and that a “peaceful, stable, inclusive democracy” was the way forward.

The decommissioning was witnessed by General de Chastelain and his officials from the IICD. The IICD was established in 1997 to oversee the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, with those passing illegal weapons to the body granted immunity from prosecution.

The decommissioning process for the loyalist groups began in autumn 2008 but was momentarily derailed earlier this year after the deaths of two soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland in March, killed by dissident republicans in Antrim and Craigavon.

The IRA eventually put its weapons beyond reach in 2005 after a protracted process.

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