POLICE QUIZ MAN AND WOMAN OVER OMAGH BOMB ATROCITY
Police quiz man and woman over Omagh bomb atrocity
A MAN and woman held by police investigating the Omagh bomb atrocity were also being questioned last night about a series of other attacks by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
Officers probing the single worst terrorist outrage during the Troubles ordered their detention after widening their inquiries in a bid to bring the Real IRA killers to justice.
Up to 200 police and troops were involved in a major security swoop to seize the couple at a house in Jonesborough, south Armagh.
Senior security sources last night confirmed the arrests represented a significant breakthrough in the five-year hunt.
But it was still unclear if charges are imminent. The pair are being interrogated at Gough Barracks in Armagh and can be held for up to 48 hours.
The arrests are unlikely to affect the �10 million High Court compensation claim by some of the families of the dead against five men they alleged were involved in the outrage.
Relatives claimed the scale of the south Armagh arrest operation indicated that security chiefs were acting on strong evidence, and do not believe their unprecedented civil action, which the Government is backing with �800,000 funding, will distract from any criminal proceedings.
It is understood the arrests are linked to one of the cars which is thought have been used at the time the 5001b bomb was transported through the west Tyrone countryside before being abandoned, killing 29 people, one of them a woman pregnant with twins, in August 1998.
Senior legal representatives of families caught up in the Omagh bombing atrocity signalled "delight" at the arrests of two people in connection with the outrage.
After a Dublin meeting with Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell, solicitor Jason McCue said: "I do not know the details, but any movement on shedding light on what happened in Omagh is certainly going to help our case."
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne, 48, died in the bombing, welcomed the arrests.
DUP policing board member Ian Paisley Jnr said yesterday that the decision by the police to make arrests for the Omagh bomb five years after the event demonstrates that with the right resources, determination and evidence the police can eventually make progress.
"The police must be encouraged to pursue tirelessly this and other unsolved cases so as justice is done and seen to be done."
A MAN and woman held by police investigating the Omagh bomb atrocity were also being questioned last night about a series of other attacks by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
Officers probing the single worst terrorist outrage during the Troubles ordered their detention after widening their inquiries in a bid to bring the Real IRA killers to justice.
Up to 200 police and troops were involved in a major security swoop to seize the couple at a house in Jonesborough, south Armagh.
Senior security sources last night confirmed the arrests represented a significant breakthrough in the five-year hunt.
But it was still unclear if charges are imminent. The pair are being interrogated at Gough Barracks in Armagh and can be held for up to 48 hours.
The arrests are unlikely to affect the �10 million High Court compensation claim by some of the families of the dead against five men they alleged were involved in the outrage.
Relatives claimed the scale of the south Armagh arrest operation indicated that security chiefs were acting on strong evidence, and do not believe their unprecedented civil action, which the Government is backing with �800,000 funding, will distract from any criminal proceedings.
It is understood the arrests are linked to one of the cars which is thought have been used at the time the 5001b bomb was transported through the west Tyrone countryside before being abandoned, killing 29 people, one of them a woman pregnant with twins, in August 1998.
Senior legal representatives of families caught up in the Omagh bombing atrocity signalled "delight" at the arrests of two people in connection with the outrage.
After a Dublin meeting with Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell, solicitor Jason McCue said: "I do not know the details, but any movement on shedding light on what happened in Omagh is certainly going to help our case."
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne, 48, died in the bombing, welcomed the arrests.
DUP policing board member Ian Paisley Jnr said yesterday that the decision by the police to make arrests for the Omagh bomb five years after the event demonstrates that with the right resources, determination and evidence the police can eventually make progress.
"The police must be encouraged to pursue tirelessly this and other unsolved cases so as justice is done and seen to be done."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/486
Published Date: 03-Sep-03
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