Families of the victims of the Omagh bombing gathered on Sunday, August 13 to mark the 25th anniversary of the attack, which claimed the lives of 29 people.
The bombing, which was carried out by the dissident republican group the Real IRA on August 15, 1998, in Omagh, Co Tyrone, was the largest single atrocity of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Victims included a woman who was pregnant with twins, a Spanish girl on a student exchange, and three young boys from Buncrana, in County Donegal. Hundreds of other people were injured in the attack.
The UK Government announced an independent statutory inquiry into the bombing, in February 2022, after years of campaigning from bereaved families. No one has ever been convicted for the attack.
Families of victims gathered in Omagh, on Sunday afternoon, for a prayer service to mark the 25th anniversary of the attack, with prayers read in English, Irish, and Spanish to reflect the nationality of those who died.
Sunday's service took place in Omagh's memorial garden, just two hundred meters from the scene of the bombing, and was organized by Omagh Support and Self-Help Group, Families Moving On, and the Omagh Churches' Forum.
Representatives of the Irish and British Governments attended the event, with Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence Peter Burke representing the Irish Government.
Families of many of the 29 people who died in the Omagh bombing in 1998 gathered in the town this afternoon for a prayer service to mark the 25th anniversary of the attack | Read more: https://t.co/B1dQpmRJps pic.twitter.com/KRmJeac9hL
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 13, 2023
Taking place four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Omagh bombing caused particular outrage and grief in Ireland and Britain.
Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, who died in 2021, was found responsible for the attack in a landmark civil case in 2009. Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, and Seamus Daly were also found liable for the bombing, while 12 relatives of victims were awarded £1.6 million in damages.
The bombing took place when a large car bomb exploded in the center of the town at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, August 15, 1998.
A Real IRA telephone warning issued 40 minutes before the bombing did not provide a specific location and police inadvertently moved people toward the location of the bomb.
Today, a glass obelisk stands at the site of the bombing, paying tribute to the 29 victims who perished in the attack.
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