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Omagh bombing: Key events before and after the attack
The red Vauxhall Cavalier containing the bomb. This photograph was taken shortly before the explosion; the camera was found afterwards in the rubble. The man and child in the photo both survived; the photographer did not.
On August 15th 1998, a father and daughter had their photo taken in Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland shortly later. Afterwards. The Red car seen in the photograph would explode, killing 29 people and injuring 220 others. The car bombing was carried out by the 'real IRA' splinter group who opposed the IRA's cease fire and the good Friday agreement
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who opposed the IRA's ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement, signed earlier in the year.
The bombing killed 29 people and injured about 220 others,[9] making it the deadliest single incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Telephoned warnings which did not specify the actual location had been sent almost forty minutes beforehand but police inadvertently moved people toward the bomb.
The bombing caused outrage both locally and internationally,[8][11] spurred on the Northern Ireland peace process,[3][4][12] and dealt a severe blow to the dissident Irish republican campaign. The Real IRA denied that the bomb was intended to kill civilians and apologised; shortly after, the group declared a ceasefire.[12] The victims included people of many backgrounds and ages: Protestants, Catholics, six teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with twins, two Spanish tourists[13][14] and others on a day trip from the Republic of Ireland. Both unionists and Irish nationalists were killed and injured. As a result of the bombing, new anti-terrorism laws were swiftly enacted by both the United Kingdom and Ireland.
British, Irish and US intelligence agencies allegedly had information which could have prevented the bombing, most of which came from double agents inside the Real IRA,[15] but this information was not given to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).[15] In 2008, the BBC reported that British intelligence agency GCHQ was monitoring conversations between the bombers as the bomb was being driven into Omagh.[16]
A 2001 report by the Police Ombudsman said that the RUC Special Branch failed to act on prior warnings and criticised the RUC's investigation of the bombing. Police reportedly obtained circumstantial and coincidental evidence against some suspects, but they were unable to convict anyone of the bombing. Colm Murphy was tried and convicted of conspiring to cause the bombing, but was released on appeal after it was revealed that the Gardaí forged interview notes used in the case. Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey was also tried but was acquitted. In June 2009, the victims' families won a £1.6 million civil action settlement against four defendants, who were found liable for the bombing. In 2014, Seamus Daly was charged with the murder of 29 people; however, the case against him was withdrawn in 2016.
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