Omagh ‘could have been prevented’
Ex-watchdog makes claim on bombing’s anniversary
A former policing watchdog who investigated the Omagh bombing has said it could have been prevented. Baroness Nuala O’Loan called for a public inquiry into the worst single atrocity of the conflict.
Email: yp.newsdesk@ypn.co.uk Twitter: @yorkshirepost A FORMER policing watchdog who investigated the Omagh bombing has said it could have been prevented.
Baroness Nuala O’Loan called for a public inquiry into the worst single atrocity of the Northern Ireland conflict and seriously questioned the handling of security force intelligence.
Relatives yesterday marked 20 years since the August 1998 dissident republican blast which killed 29, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Baroness O’Loan said: “My view now is that it could have been prevented.”
She said the various intelligence services could have worked in a more cohesive way.
On August 4 1998, 11 days before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) received an anonymous telephone call warning that there would be an “unspecified” terrorist attack on police in Omagh on August 15 1998.
An investigation by Baroness O’Loan when she was police ombudsman found that the force’s Special Branch, which handled intelligence from agents, took only limited action on the information and a threat warning was not sent to the sub-divisional commander in Omagh. A RUC review concluded in 2000 that the information should have been passed to the commander.
Baroness O’Loan said: “If that had been conveyed to the sub-divisional commander in Omagh he could have just set checkpoints up around the town and the effect of that could have been to drive the bombers to abandon their bomb.”
She said the intelligence services were tracking the movements of the car containing the bomb from the Republic of Ireland.
“What we do need now is an inquiry, a full public inquiry to find out why this happened and how it could have been prevented.
“I am not yet convinced that the way in which we handle intelligence across the UK is adequate to secure maximum information.”
The massive car bomb ripped through the Co Tyrone town just months after the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement was supposed to have largely ended violence.
A splinter dissident republican group opposed to the peace process, the Real IRA, was blamed for the outrage after inaccurate warnings from the group meant police evacuated shoppers towards the bomb site.
Twenty years later, nobody has been convicted of murder and relatives of the dead gathered on the spot yesterday for a short ceremony led by the Omagh Churches Forum.
A bell was then rung 32 times to reflect the 31 lives lost with an additional peal to remember all who have lost their lives through similar atrocities.
The victims included Protestants and Catholics, tourists from Spain and others on a day trip from the nearby Republic of Ireland.
Survivors described scenes of utter carnage with the dead and dying strewn across the street and other victims screaming for help.
It led to an outcry against dissident republicans and in favour of the Northern Ireland peace process. Then Prime Minister Tony Blair called an “appalling act of savagery and evil.”
What we do need now is an inquiry, a full public inquiry Baroness Nuala O’Loan, former police ombudsman who investigated the bombing.