Northern Ireland's paramilitaries dump arsenal

"The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando today confirms it has completed the process of rendering ordnance totally and irreversibly beyond use," said a statement read aloud to reporters in Belfast by a man who said he represented the UVF and the Red Hand Commando.

Military organizations that want to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom have been under pressure for years to start getting rid of arms following the Irish Republican Army's decision to dispose of its weapons in 2005.

"Across every operational area in Northern Ireland and in all regions of Great Britain in conjunction with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in the presence of independent international witnesses .... the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando have now concluded that process," the statement said.