Loyalist paramilitaries could be moving towards decommissioning their weapons, Secretary of State Shaun Woodward has said.

Loyalist paramilitaries could be moving towards decommissioning their weapons, Secretary of State Shaun Woodward said today.

But he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster that he remained committed to closing down decommissioning legislation if major progress was not made by August.

He also said that loyalist leaders had helped to calm tensions in the days after the murders of three security force members by dissident republican groups last month.

In January, Mr Woodward got the backing of MPs to extend the work of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in the hope that loyalists will follow the path taken by the Provisional IRA, which put its arms beyond use in 2005.

"The reason I asked for the further and final year, and let me underline the word final, of the extension of the powers of decommissioning was I had very good reason to believe that the (commission) was making meaningful progress," he said.

"That meaningful progress, I believe, not only continues but is developing.

"But, as I said at the time, this is not instead of the criminal law, it's as well as the criminal law.

"I believe that we will get there, otherwise I would not have asked for the extension.

"I believe that we will get there in a matter of months and not years, which is why I am confident in saying that this is the last time I would want to see the extension."

But Mr Woodward said he stood by his pledge to pull the plug on the legislation unless he saw action within months.

"If there has been no meaningful progress by the middle of August this year, in other words six months after we sought this extension from Parliament, I will bring an order in immediately to bring it to an end.

"Now I believe that these people have heard that message and have understood it."

He added: "We have had many statements, we now need more than statements."

He said that, after consultations with individuals including the Chief Constable, he felt the decision to extend the decommissioning provisions provided the best way to take loyalist weapons off the streets.

"If we knew where they were, we'd go and get them tonight. The problem is, we don't," said Mr Woodward.

"But we believe, through the International Commission, that we may actually manage to bring in a number of weapons by this route and that's why it is worth persisting with."

The minister said he believed that loyalist leaders had sought to maintain calm in loyalist areas in the aftermath of the dissident republican attacks in which two soldiers and a police officer were murdered.

"Part of the past was an attack by a dissident republican group would be met by an attack by a dissident loyalist group," said Mr Woodward.

"What happened? Actually - and we should give them the recognition here they deserve - they (loyalists) actually acted with proper leadership qualities.

"They went out into their communities and said 'Do not respond, do not take a life for a life'."

He said Government wanted to help loyalism take its place in society, but added: "But they have to decommission. That is non-negotiable.

"Guns have no part in any normal society in Northern Ireland, whoever you are."

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee today asked for submissions as part of its investigation into the Omagh bombing, with contributions from individuals or organisations requested by May 1.

Today, committee members again quizzed Mr Woodward on the questions raised over security force handling of intelligence over the bombing.

But the Secretary of State warned against raising expectations among relatives that the authorities could have prevented the 1998 atrocity which killed 29 people, including that of a woman carrying unborn twins.

He said mistakes had been made, but that these had been investigated and lessons had been learned.

"I don't think we could have stopped the bomb from happening," he said.

"Indeed we couldn't. We did not know."