Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister, has died aged 66.
It is understood he had been suffering from a rare heart condition.
The former IRA leader turned peacemaker worked at the heart of the power-sharing government following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
He became deputy first minister in 2007, standing alongside Democratic Unionist Party leaders Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster.
Mr McGuinness stood down from his post in January in protest against the DUP's handling of an energy scandal, in a move that triggered a snap election.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: "Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness.
"He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the re-unification of his country. But above all he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud of both."
Northern Ireland's former first minister Arlene Foster expressed her "sincere condolences" at his death.
"Today's news will come as a shock to many people," she said.
"First and foremost, Martin McGuinness was a much loved husband, father and grandfather. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and the family circle at this very painful time of grief and loss."
Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son, Tim, died in an IRA bomb in Warrington in 1993, said although he did not forgive the IRA or Martin McGuinness, he found him a man who was "sincere in his desire for peace".
Martin McGuinness grew up in Derry's Bogside, radicalised, he said, by discrimination and murder on the streets of his city.
In 1972, at the age of 21, he was second-in-command of the IRA in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday, when 14 civil rights protesters were killed in the city by soldiers.
He had a leading role in the IRA during a time when the paramilitary organisation was bombing his home city.
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