Northern Ireland today marks the 24th anniversary of the Omagh bomb, which killed 29 people, nine of whom were children as well as a woman pregnant with twins.
More than 200 people were injured in the bombing which happened in the Co Tyrone town on August 15, 1998. The Real IRA attack was the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles and came just months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
The terrorist group telephoned coded warnings before the bomb detonated but didn't specify the location which devastated the town centre. No-one has been convicted for the crime.
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Families of loved ones killed in the terrorist attack have long-campaigned for justice.
In July 2021, Belfast High Court Judge ruled that security forces had a “real prospect” of preventing the atrocity.
Mr Justice Horner recommended that the British and Irish governments each undertake human rights compliant investigations into the bombing.
Horner told the high court: “I am satisfied that certain grounds when considered separately or together give rise to plausible allegations that there was a real prospect of preventing the Omagh bombing. These grounds involve, inter alia, the consideration of terrorist activity on both sides of the border by prominent dissident terrorist republicans leading up to the Omagh bomb.”
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