HUNT FOR GANG WHO MAIMED AND KILLED
Hunt for gang who maimed and killed
by Michael O'Toole
Dublin Correspondent
IT COULD have been Manchester or London.
The bomb that ripped through the heart of Omagh just after 3pm on Saturday, August 15 last year was the end result of a drastic reorganisation by the Real IRA after they were repeatedly foiled from attacking their prize target: England.
Senior gardai investigating last year's atrocity believe their successes against the paramilitary group in the run up to the Good Friday agreement meant the Co Louth based organisation had to move its operation over the border into south Armagh.
Twice in 1998 gardai foiled plans by the Real IRA, made up of former Provisionals, to bomb Britain.
In one instance they seized materials they believed were to be made into a bomb and shipped to Britain from a port near Dublin. And in another they seized a car laden with a huge bomb before it was transported to Britain - with the Grand National at Aintree the likely target.
Up until then the dissident organisation had been firmly centred around Dublin and Kildare - where bombs were assembled - and was assisted by city gangs, who stole cars for them.
But the Dundalk based leadership of the organisation is believed to have decided it was safer to move the focus into its hinterland of Louth and south Armagh.
It soon produced deadly results.
Bombs devastated Banbridge, Newtownhamilton and Portadown before the tragedy of Omagh.
As well as the 29 people killed in the Tyrone bomb some 300 were injured.
The horror of that day has led to one of the biggest investigations in the history of the Garda Siochana.
More than 40 people have been arrested on both sides of the border, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition as well as illegal arms, including a heavy machine gun, have been seized by the Garda team.
To date, only one man has been charged in connection with the attack, south Armagh man Colm Murphy (48) who faces charges of conspiracy to cause an explosion and membership of an illegal organisation, namely Oglaigh na hEireann.
At the time of the attack, the" Real IRA had an estimated 150 members, most of whom were south of the border, where the attack was planned.
There are two key Garda personnel involved in the investigation: assistant commissioners Kevin Carty in Sligo and Tony Hickey in Dublin.
Mr Carty is in charge of the overall investigation, but Mr Hickey, who is in charge of the investigation into the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, also plays a key role.
North of the border the RUC has set up a special task force to investigate the atrocity, led by detective chief superintendent Eric Anderson, who led the probe into the Greysteel attack of 1993.
Gardai from the investigation headquarters in Monaghan town will this afternoon head to the Co Tyrone town to liaise with RUC detectives.
At any one time there could be up to 150 officers from the Garda Siochana involved in the case - that's almost 10 per cent of the force's entire make up.
The Garda investigation has a small core of up to two dozen detectives, but they regularly call in back up from Special Branch headquarters in Dublin's Harcourt Square. Members of the elite armed Emergency Response Unit -usually tasked with anti-terrorist activities - have also been brought in to help search for arms as well as arrest suspects.
But the Monaghan team also has its own special arrest squads, used to arrest people it wants to bring into custody.
The allocation of such resources - along with draconian anti-terrorist legislation introduced after the attack - has enabled gardai to build up a near complete picture of who did what on August 15.
Garda sources have told the Irish News that they have ascertained who was involved in the atrocity, from the planning to the execution and escape.
The Real IRA bomb making factory, previously in Kildare, was moved to Jonesboro in south Armagh in a bid to get away from Garda intelligence. Gardai believe between 10 and 12 people were involved. The man thought to be the organisation's leader, living near Dundalk in Co Louth, is not thought to have had a direct input into the attack.
A man based in the Tipperary area is believed to have played a key role in transporting the bomb to the south Armagh area.
As a Provisional he controlled IRA arms dumps and when he defected he took information with him.
The Semtex used in the 500lb car bomb is believed to have been taken from one of those dumps, with other equipment
The components were then taken to Jonesboro, where the bomb was assembled by a small team of Real IRA personnel.
The car used in the attack, a maroon Vauxhall cavalier, was stolen in the Monaghan border town of Carrickmacross on the Thursday before the bomb.
Gardai believe one of the key members of the bombing team is a former leading member of the Provisional IRA in south Armagh.
The man lives just south of the border in Co Louth and comes from a family with strong republican links.
Gardai believe he was one of the three or four people who went to Omagh on the day of the explosion.
They believe he either drove the car containing the bomb or drove in front in another car, in which he acted as a scout, ensuring there were no security force patrols en route.
Two men from Omagh are thought to have guided the bombers to the spot in Market Street where they left the car.
And gardai have established that an Irish mobile phone was used in Omagh that day.
They believe the telephone was used by the bomber to notify another man in south Armagh that the bomb was planted and to issue a warning.
But it was not just the gardai who cracked down on the Real IRA - days after the Omagh bomb, 80 houses on both sides of the border were visited by Provisionals.
They had a simple message to the dissidents who lived there: desist from armed actions or face the consequences.
And earlier this year, tensions were said to be high between both groups, with fears of violent confrontations. But that tension seems to have dissipated, although the Real IRA shows no signs of going away.
Indeed, as the Irish News has reported, the organisation is regrouping, subsuming most of the Continuity IRA as well as attracting ex members of the INLA.
They are intent on restarting their campaign, but security sources in the south do not believe attacks are imminent, but are possible within a few months.
Before that, however, gardai will be intensifying their efforts to catch the people leading the organisation and put them behind bars.
by Michael O'Toole
Dublin Correspondent
IT COULD have been Manchester or London.
The bomb that ripped through the heart of Omagh just after 3pm on Saturday, August 15 last year was the end result of a drastic reorganisation by the Real IRA after they were repeatedly foiled from attacking their prize target: England.
Senior gardai investigating last year's atrocity believe their successes against the paramilitary group in the run up to the Good Friday agreement meant the Co Louth based organisation had to move its operation over the border into south Armagh.
Twice in 1998 gardai foiled plans by the Real IRA, made up of former Provisionals, to bomb Britain.
In one instance they seized materials they believed were to be made into a bomb and shipped to Britain from a port near Dublin. And in another they seized a car laden with a huge bomb before it was transported to Britain - with the Grand National at Aintree the likely target.
Up until then the dissident organisation had been firmly centred around Dublin and Kildare - where bombs were assembled - and was assisted by city gangs, who stole cars for them.
But the Dundalk based leadership of the organisation is believed to have decided it was safer to move the focus into its hinterland of Louth and south Armagh.
It soon produced deadly results.
Bombs devastated Banbridge, Newtownhamilton and Portadown before the tragedy of Omagh.
As well as the 29 people killed in the Tyrone bomb some 300 were injured.
The horror of that day has led to one of the biggest investigations in the history of the Garda Siochana.
More than 40 people have been arrested on both sides of the border, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition as well as illegal arms, including a heavy machine gun, have been seized by the Garda team.
To date, only one man has been charged in connection with the attack, south Armagh man Colm Murphy (48) who faces charges of conspiracy to cause an explosion and membership of an illegal organisation, namely Oglaigh na hEireann.
At the time of the attack, the" Real IRA had an estimated 150 members, most of whom were south of the border, where the attack was planned.
There are two key Garda personnel involved in the investigation: assistant commissioners Kevin Carty in Sligo and Tony Hickey in Dublin.
Mr Carty is in charge of the overall investigation, but Mr Hickey, who is in charge of the investigation into the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, also plays a key role.
North of the border the RUC has set up a special task force to investigate the atrocity, led by detective chief superintendent Eric Anderson, who led the probe into the Greysteel attack of 1993.
Gardai from the investigation headquarters in Monaghan town will this afternoon head to the Co Tyrone town to liaise with RUC detectives.
At any one time there could be up to 150 officers from the Garda Siochana involved in the case - that's almost 10 per cent of the force's entire make up.
The Garda investigation has a small core of up to two dozen detectives, but they regularly call in back up from Special Branch headquarters in Dublin's Harcourt Square. Members of the elite armed Emergency Response Unit -usually tasked with anti-terrorist activities - have also been brought in to help search for arms as well as arrest suspects.
But the Monaghan team also has its own special arrest squads, used to arrest people it wants to bring into custody.
The allocation of such resources - along with draconian anti-terrorist legislation introduced after the attack - has enabled gardai to build up a near complete picture of who did what on August 15.
Garda sources have told the Irish News that they have ascertained who was involved in the atrocity, from the planning to the execution and escape.
The Real IRA bomb making factory, previously in Kildare, was moved to Jonesboro in south Armagh in a bid to get away from Garda intelligence. Gardai believe between 10 and 12 people were involved. The man thought to be the organisation's leader, living near Dundalk in Co Louth, is not thought to have had a direct input into the attack.
A man based in the Tipperary area is believed to have played a key role in transporting the bomb to the south Armagh area.
As a Provisional he controlled IRA arms dumps and when he defected he took information with him.
The Semtex used in the 500lb car bomb is believed to have been taken from one of those dumps, with other equipment
The components were then taken to Jonesboro, where the bomb was assembled by a small team of Real IRA personnel.
The car used in the attack, a maroon Vauxhall cavalier, was stolen in the Monaghan border town of Carrickmacross on the Thursday before the bomb.
Gardai believe one of the key members of the bombing team is a former leading member of the Provisional IRA in south Armagh.
The man lives just south of the border in Co Louth and comes from a family with strong republican links.
Gardai believe he was one of the three or four people who went to Omagh on the day of the explosion.
They believe he either drove the car containing the bomb or drove in front in another car, in which he acted as a scout, ensuring there were no security force patrols en route.
Two men from Omagh are thought to have guided the bombers to the spot in Market Street where they left the car.
And gardai have established that an Irish mobile phone was used in Omagh that day.
They believe the telephone was used by the bomber to notify another man in south Armagh that the bomb was planted and to issue a warning.
But it was not just the gardai who cracked down on the Real IRA - days after the Omagh bomb, 80 houses on both sides of the border were visited by Provisionals.
They had a simple message to the dissidents who lived there: desist from armed actions or face the consequences.
And earlier this year, tensions were said to be high between both groups, with fears of violent confrontations. But that tension seems to have dissipated, although the Real IRA shows no signs of going away.
Indeed, as the Irish News has reported, the organisation is regrouping, subsuming most of the Continuity IRA as well as attracting ex members of the INLA.
They are intent on restarting their campaign, but security sources in the south do not believe attacks are imminent, but are possible within a few months.
Before that, however, gardai will be intensifying their efforts to catch the people leading the organisation and put them behind bars.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0300
Published Date: 11-Aug-99
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