With the signing of the Good Friday peace accords in Northern Ireland in 1998, paramilitary groups on both sides of the political divide began to slowly disarm, putting their terror arsenals beyond use under the guidance of an international decommissioning committee.

Loyalist Volunteer Force

A small terrorist breakaway group founded in Belfast to oppose Irish nationalist aggression and ensure Northern Ireland remained part of the UK. It decommissioned its small arsenal of mostly handguns in 1998

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was the most sophisticated terrorist group in Europe, fighting to unite the island of Ireland under one Dublin-based government. It’s Provisional wing dominated and largely erased the official wing of the IRA in a power struggle based on political ideologies. Its arsenal included 3,000 kilograms of explosives, seven surface-to-air missiles, heavy machine guns, flame-throwers, mortars, more than 1,000 rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. It was verified as having completed decommissioning by 2005.

Ulster Volunteer Force

Founded in 1966, the group was founded to ensure Northern Ireland remained part of the UK. Its weaponry was mostly seized by the Palestine Liberation Organisation by Israel, then sold on the black market or supplied to advance various political causes. It was decommissioned in 2008.

Red Hand Commando

A small, secretive Loyalist group affiliated with the Ulster Volunteer Force, decommissioned its small arsenal of weapons — mostly handguns and rifles — in 2009.

Ulster Defence Association

The largest Loyalist paramilitary group to support Northern Ireland retaining its political union with Great Britain, its arms were officially recognised as decommissioned by international monitors in January, 2010.

Irish National Liberation Army

The military wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, INLA killed an estimated 120 people during its campaign for a united Ireland. It was the last paramilitary group in Northern Ireland to repudiate political violence, and decommissioned its weaponry in February 2010.