Judge says Omagh bomb inquiry will be rigorous and fearless

The chair of the public inquiry that opened yesterday into the 1998 Omagh bombing, the single worst atrocity in Northern Ireland's Troubles, said its task would be undertaken "rigorously and fearlessly".

- Shane Harrison

Twenty-nine people including a woman expecting twins were killed and more than 200 injured in the attack by the dissident republican group the Real IRA.

The inquiry, which is being chaired by the judge Alan Turnbull, will investigate whether "UK state authorities" could "reasonably" have acted to prevent the mass killing.

The car bombing on a main street in the County Tyrone town on 15 August 1998 came just months after people on both sides of the border had voted overwhelmingly to support the Good Friday Agreement, which was seen as symbolically bringing the period of the Troubles to an end.

The inquiry, which is being held in Omagh, was set up by the government after a 2021 court ruling that found it a plausible argument that the state could have acted to avert the attack.