BOMBERS MINGLED WITH CROWD
Bombers mingled with the crowd before blast horror
By Una Bradley
POLICE were today continuing to question two men in connection with the Omagh bombing.
Three other men arrested earlier this week have been released without charge.
Meanwhile, the RUC investigation has revealed that the Omagh bombers casually mingled with crowds of Saturday shoppers after abandoning their deadly cargo.
The final movements of the car used to transport the 5001b bomb which killed 27 people have been traced by the special RUC task force investigating the crime.
Two men were seen getting out of the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier which was abandoned in Market Street at least 40 minutes before the device went off on Saturday.
The car, stolen several days earlier in Carrickmacross, in Co Monaghan, was seen being driven into the town along Campsie Road.
Police investigating the massacre say it was then parked in a vacant spot in Market Street between 2pm and 2.30pm.
The two men were then seen walking back towards Campsie, but it is not known if they turned left into Drumragh Avenue, right into Dublin Road, or straight ahead back towards Campsie and towards the countryside.
The revelations undermine the theory that the terrorists hastily abandoned the car short of their destination.
Two warnings to UTV specified a location outside or near the courthouse - 400 yards from where the explosion actually occured.
Senior detectives last night said there was nothing to suggest the car had been abandoned. All the signs were that it had been "deliberately" parked in Market Street.
That leaves investigators with just two options. Either the warnings were botched or they were deliberately misleading, in order to maximize the bloodshed.
It is not clear if the police used recordings from security videos or eyewitness accounts to pinpoint the car's final movements.
By Una Bradley
POLICE were today continuing to question two men in connection with the Omagh bombing.
Three other men arrested earlier this week have been released without charge.
Meanwhile, the RUC investigation has revealed that the Omagh bombers casually mingled with crowds of Saturday shoppers after abandoning their deadly cargo.
The final movements of the car used to transport the 5001b bomb which killed 27 people have been traced by the special RUC task force investigating the crime.
Two men were seen getting out of the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier which was abandoned in Market Street at least 40 minutes before the device went off on Saturday.
The car, stolen several days earlier in Carrickmacross, in Co Monaghan, was seen being driven into the town along Campsie Road.
Police investigating the massacre say it was then parked in a vacant spot in Market Street between 2pm and 2.30pm.
The two men were then seen walking back towards Campsie, but it is not known if they turned left into Drumragh Avenue, right into Dublin Road, or straight ahead back towards Campsie and towards the countryside.
The revelations undermine the theory that the terrorists hastily abandoned the car short of their destination.
Two warnings to UTV specified a location outside or near the courthouse - 400 yards from where the explosion actually occured.
Senior detectives last night said there was nothing to suggest the car had been abandoned. All the signs were that it had been "deliberately" parked in Market Street.
That leaves investigators with just two options. Either the warnings were botched or they were deliberately misleading, in order to maximize the bloodshed.
It is not clear if the police used recordings from security videos or eyewitness accounts to pinpoint the car's final movements.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0157
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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