Northern Irish Nobel peace prize winner David Trimble dies at 77

David Trimble, Northern Ireland's Nobel peace prize-winning former first minister, has died at the age of 77, his Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said on Monday.

Trimble helped forge the landmark 1998 peace deal in the troubled UK province which ended decades of conflict, and won the prize along with his republican counterpart John Hume that year.

"It is with great sadness that the family of Lord Trimble announce that he passed away peacefully earlier today following a short illness," the UUP said in a statement.

No further details were provided about his death.

Trimble, who led the party for a decade from 1995, had sat in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK parliament, since 2006, sitting as a Conservative peer.

"A political giant, a courageous politician, a staunch unionist and a friend," Doug Beattie, the current UUP leader, said on Twitter, adding in a statement he was "a man of courage and vision".

The 1998 Good Friday accord largely ended 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland that killed 3,500, and is still hailed as a shining example of statecraft.

Despite resistance within his unionist community, which favours bonds between Northern Ireland and mainland...