IRA chief, peacemaker McGuinness to be laid to rest in Derry

Irish Republicans carry the coffin of Martin McGuinness through the bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, March, 21, 2017. Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army warlord who led his underground, paramilitary movement toward reconciliation with Britain, and was Northern Ireland's deputy first minister for a decade in a power-sharing government, has died, his Sinn Fein party announced Tuesday on Twitter. He was 66.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison) (The Associated Press)

British newspapers mark the death of Martin McGuiness, in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. McGuinness, who died Tuesday at 66, was an Irish Republican Army commander who led the paramilitary movement toward reconciliation with Britain and went on to serve as Northern Ireland's deputy first minister for a decade in a Catholic-Protestant power-sharing unity government. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (The Associated Press)

Irish republicans hold a candle lit vigil in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, March, 21, 2017, marking the death of Martin McGuinness. Former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who was once a commander of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) who helped steer the militant group towards disarmament, then helped forge a power-sharing government with his Protestant opponents, died early Tuesday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) (The Associated Press)

The Northern Ireland city of Londonderry is filling with mourners for the funeral of former IRA commander and Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness, who helped lead his militant movement to compromise with British Protestants.

Thursday's ceremony is the biggest Irish republican funeral since the 1981 death of Irish Republican Army hunger strike leader Bobby Sands.

Among senior leaders in attendance in Derry — as Irish nationalists call the city — are former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Republic of Ireland's current leaders and former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. Blair and Ahern oversaw U.S.-mediated Belfast negotiations that clinched Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

McGuinness died Tuesday at age 66.