The Omagh bombing, the deadliest strike during the so-called “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, will be commemorated on Sunday by the relatives of the victims, survivors, and dignitaries.
Dissident republicans detonated a large vehicle bomb in Omagh’s bustling town center on August 15, 1998, killing 29 persons and wounding 220 more.
The memorial service will take place in Omagh Memorial Garden on Sunday. It is being organized by victim advocacy groups and the town’s religious forum. On August 15, a different, private service will be held for families.
The explosion happened four months after peace agreements were signed that were meant to put an end to the three-decade fighting against British rule in Northern Ireland, which lost 3,000 lives.
The attack, carried out by the Real IRA, a dissident republican organization opposed to the peace accord, helped to promote the Good Friday Agreement reached between supporters of the United Kingdom and Ireland’s Nationalist government.
The UK government announced an independent investigation into the Omagh bomb earlier this year to determine whether the assault could have been stopped.
The investigation comes in response to a judge’s recommendation from 2021 that the government look into potential security lapses before to the assault.
Nobody has ever been found guilty for the crime, despite years of legal fighting between the families of the victims and those who survived the explosion through numerous inquests, criminal and civil trials, and appeals.
Senior police officer John Caldwell was shot in February during a dissident republican assassination attempt on the outskirts of Omagh.
The incident, which the New IRA eventually claimed responsibility for, brought to mind how frequently police officers were targeted during the Troubles.
Ronan Kerr, the last police officer to be slain by rebel republicans, died in Omagh in 2011 when a car bomb exploded outside his house.
In response to Caldwell’s shooting, the UK government upgraded the level of Northern Ireland’s terror threat in March, citing a persistent threat of political violence.
Since the UK left the European Union, tensions have risen in the province, leading to the collapse of its major pro-UK party’s power-sharing institutions over post-Brexit trading regulations.
