Northern Ireland's peace process is under further pressure after the IRA suspended contact with general John de Chastelain's arms decommissioning body.

In its statement, the IRA said its ceasefire was still intact despite the move.

London and Dublin sources have dismissed the move as a "tactical exercise" designed to strengthen Sinn Fein's hand at the negotiating table.

The IRA has used the tactic before, in February 2000, following another Stormont suspension.

Four months later, republican paramilitaries were announcing the inspection of IRA arms bunkers by de Chastelain.