LONDON (AP) 鈥 The U.K. government said Thursday it will hold a public inquiry into whether the deadliest bombing in Northern Ireland鈥檚 decades of violence could have been prevented.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced a judge-led independent probe of the 1998 car bombing in the town of Omagh that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and wounded hundreds more. An Irish Republican Army dissident group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility.
A court in 2021 ordered the government to investigate in response to a legal challenge by Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed by the 225-kilogram (500-pound) bomb. Gallagher alleges that intelligence failings allowed a 鈥減reventable atrocity鈥 to occur in the busy market town.
Heaton-Harris said the inquiry "will focus specifically on the four grounds which the court held as giving rise to plausible arguments that the bombing could have been prevented,鈥 including whether security services had advance intelligence of the bomb and whether they could have disrupted the plot.
The inquiry is likely to take two years 鈥 and potentially much longer. The inquirers will have the power to order evidence to be handed over and to compel witnesses to testify under oath.
Heaton-Harris said he hoped the decision to conduct an independent inquiry 鈥済ives some comfort to those families who have long campaigned for this outcome.鈥
Gallagher said the inquiry would let bereaved families "hopefully get the answers that we need and we can move on.鈥
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 have this process, for the rest of our lives we鈥檙e going to be wondering 鈥榳hat if,鈥" he said.
The 2021 court ruling said a new investigation should be held in the Republic of Ireland, where most of the suspected bombers were based. The Irish government said it would 鈥渃onsider what further action is required on our part鈥 after the British announcement.
The attack on Aug. 15, 1998 came months after the Good Friday peace accord largely ended three decades of conflict known as 鈥渢he Troubles.鈥 Major Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups gave up violence and disarmed, but small splinter groups continued to mount attacks.
No one has been convicted in the Omagh attack, but four members of the Real IRA were found responsible in a civil case in 2009.
