Police renew appeal three years after Omagh bomb

Police from both sides of the Irish border have launched a major new inquiry into the Omagh bombing exactly three years after 29 people were killed when a Real IRA bomb exploded in the County Tyrone town.

At a news conference in Belfast on Wednesday August 15, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Garda Siochana renewed their appeal to the public to help them in their investigation.

On 15 August 1998, 29 people and a woman heavily pregnant with twins were killed when bombers left a massive car bomb in Omagh town centre. Hundreds of people were injured, some seriously, in the worst single atrocity in more than 30 years of sectarian strife in Northern Ireland.

The dissident republican Real IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, but no one has since been convicted of carrying out the attack.

Speaking on the third anniversary of the atrocity, Superintendent James Baxter, the RUC's Omagh commander, and Garda Superintendent Tadgh Foley said only public help would help them “close the gap” between what they knew and what they could prove.

The news conference was interrupted when Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libby was killed, angrily accused the authorities of a “conspiracy” in not preventing the bomb and not convicting the bombers.

Mr Rush, 72, said: “I have interrupted this because I came here to find the guilty. I am just disgusted by the lack of co-operation we have had from all levels. Are you a completely incompetent force?”

Superintendent Baxter said that after three years’ investigation, his officers were just as determined to “catch the murderers and bring them before the courts”.

He said: “We know that there are still people out there who have those extra bits of information which would help us close the gap and give us the evidence needed for a criminal prosecution.”

Michael Gallagher, from the Omagh Self-Help and Support Group, whose son Aidan died in the blast, also spoke at the news conference. He said: “I think there is quiet determination to make sure that things happen. We’re going to keep the pressure on both governments to stand by the commitments they made in the aftermath of Omagh.”

On Wednesday, the injured and bereaved attended an interdenominational prayer service in the Garden of Remembrance in the town, constructed near to the scene of the explosion.

Mr Gallagher said the event would be low-key compared to previous years. “I think it's probably designed that way to help people to move on,” he said. (AMcE)