Tony Blair has welcomed the "immensely significant" announcement that a second cache of IRA weapons has been decommissioned.

The IRA said it was acting to ensure that the peace process was "stabilised, sustained and strengthened".

The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, headed by General John de Chastelain, confirmed that it had witnessed "an event in which the IRA leadership has put a varied and substantial quantity of ammunition, arms and explosive material beyond use".

David Trimble, Northern Ireland's first minister and the Ulster Unionist Party leader, said the move was a rebuff to anti-Good Friday agreement unionists who had said it would never happen.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams the decommissioning was a "huge move" for the IRA leadership.