Poppy terror in Omagh as bomb found at war memorial

A PIPE bomb was discovered near a war memorial in Omagh yesterday just before a Remembrance Sunday parade was due to begin.

Police confirmed last night that the device found in the Northern Irish market town – where 29 people were killed by a Real IRA bomb in 199 – was viable, describing it as a ‘small but potentially dangerous package’.

The parade was diverted and the traditional wreath-laying at the town’s cenotaph was suspended after the area was sealed off following the discovery of the device.

Army bomb disposal experts carried out three controlled explosions yesterday morning, but the area remained cordoned off last night.

The bomb alert also came 30 years after 12 people were killed by an IRA bomb on Remembrance Sunday in Enniskillen – about 2 miles from Omagh. Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster tweeted: ‘On a day we remember the carnage of Enniskillen 30 years ago it is disgusting that Remembrance Sunday in Omagh was disrupted by those who left a suspicious device in the town.’

Tightly sealed sections of pipes can be filled with explosive materials to create improvised pipe bombs.

Northern Ireland’s chief constable, George Hamilton, described it as ‘a sickening and appalling act’. He said: ‘This small but potentially dangerous device was left to cause the maximum amount of disruption to the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

‘This is the action of a small and callous group of violent people who have nothing to offer our communities other than fear and intimidation. Whilst our investigation is at a very early stage, one strong line of inquiry is that violent dissident republicans are responsible.’

No one was ever convicted of the Omagh bombing, the biggest single act of bloodshed during the Troubles.

‘A sickening and appalling act’