A republican paramilitary group which killed more than 100 people during the Northern Ireland Troubles has announced that it has decommissioned its weapons.

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) confirmed it has disposed of its illegal arsenal in recent weeks through the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).

The splinter group was responsible for some of the most infamous attacks of the Troubles, including the killing of Conservative MP Airey Neave in 1979.

Four months ago the INLA used a graveside oration outside Dublin to confirm its "armed struggle is over" and it vowed to end its 35-year campaign of violence in Northern Ireland.

Spokespersons for the Irish National Liberation Army, left to right, Gerard Murray, Willie Gallagher, Martin McMonagle and Martin McIlkerney Full Image

A spokesman for the group, Martin McMonagle, told a Belfast press conference the INLA had disarmed. "We make no apology for our part in the conflict," he said.

But he added: "We believe that conditions have now changed in such a way that other options are open to revolutionaries in order to pursue and ultimately achieve our objectives."

A prominent member of the INLA's political wing, and a former INLA prisoner, he said his group would now work to encourage political progress.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party executive member said the INLA had been on ceasefire for 12 years and added it had now handed over all its weapons. "We can also confirm that the INLA has disarmed through a joint facilitation group consisting of local, a national and an international organisation. This was done in a process in accordance with international standards," he said.

"We hope that this will further enhance the primacy of politics ... and that it will in time unite and advance the working class struggle in Ireland."

The consultation group included Irish trade union leaders and an academic, who worked with the IICD. The trade unionists confirmed they had witnessed the destruction of a substantial amount of weaponry.