IRA ends armed campaigns

Since roughly an hour ago the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has stopped all armed campaigns. In a statement issued today, the IRA calls for assistance to the "development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means".

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern call the announcement a "momentous and historic development".

Before the UK was targeted by Jihadist suicide bombers it was the IRA that kept the country in fear of terrorist acts.  Attacks, such as the one in Birmingham on 21st November 1974, showed what they are capable of.

With the call for peaceful arrangements the IRA has made a clear statement: we are no longer terrorists.