NET CLOSING ON KILLERS
NET CLOSING ON KILLERS'
'Real IRA' targeted after admitting Omagh Bomb Atrocity
THE detective heading the hunt for the terrorists who carried out the bomb atrocity in Omagh on Saturday said yesterday (Wednesday) that they were fast closing in on the killers.
The investigation by Deputy Chief Constable for Crime, Eric Anderson, who was appointed to head the special R.U.C. task force immediately after the murder of 28 people and the wounding of 220 by the car bomb at the Dublin Road corner, is concentrating its interest on the so-called Real I.R.A. which has admitted responsibility.
Mr. Anderson said his team was receiving unprecedented co-operation from police forces across the British Isles and Eire.
"They are giving us every assistance we could possibly have in this investigation", he said.
In early morning swoops on houses in the Omagh area on Monday, police arrested five men who yesterday were still being questioned at Castlereagh.
The investigation headquarters is at Omagh Police Station, and the team there was joined on Tuesday by counter-terrorism experts drafted in from the Metropolitan Police in London. They had been involved in the aftermath of the Canary Wharf bombing which ended the Provisional I.R.A. ceasefire in February 1996.
Police are understood to have examined public telephone kiosks in South Armagh from which the killers may have made the misleading warning calls relating to the bomb.
The first call, made to a Belfast newsroom, gave a 40-minute warning of a bomb at the Courthouse, which resulted in police evacuating that part of the town and ushering people to the bottom of Market Street, where, unknown only to the bombers, a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier with its deadly 5001b cargo had already been parked outside Kells Outfitters Shop awaiting detonation.
The car had been stolen in Carrickmacross, on Thursday last and its Co. Donegal registration plate replaced with a Northern Ireland number.
In the vicinity were hundreds of people, men, mothers with young children, evacuated shop workers, young people out for an enjoyable sunny afternoon in the town.
Shrapnel
At 3.10 pm the device exploded, sending shards of shrapnel from the disintegrated car, broken glass and masonry slicing through the crowd. People have spoken of an ear-splitting blast, followed by an eerie silence and then the screams of the injured.
The full horror of the carnage was revealed as the smoke cleared. Victims, dead, unconscious and mutilated lay strewn in the street or in the shops, among them a child of only 18 months, another aged 20 months. Some of the injured staggered away from the scene covered in blood,
others wandered around dazed by shock, clothing in tatters not knowing what to do or where to go.
Then the harrowing search began in the rubble for lost children, parents or friends. Passers-by who rushed to help spoke of the awful carnage that confronted them.
Before the ambulances arrived buses, private cars, taxis, vans were used to take people to Tyrone County Hospital which was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the atrocity. Medical and nursing staff on duty were reinforced by off-duty or retired staff who immediately responded to an appeal for help broadcast on radio.
Other people wanting to help but not knowing what to do turned up at the hospital to donate blood.
Neighbouring hospitals, the Erne in Enniskillen, the South Tyrone in Dungannon, and the Altnagelvin in Londonderry as well as the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, had been alerted and many of the injured were flown to them by helicopter.
Then began the long and heart-breaking task of identifying the dead and injured. The hospital at Omagh was inundated with relatives searching for their loved ones. The Leisure Centre was converted for use as an emergency collating centre for lists of those injured as their names became known. Anxious parents, families, friends scanned them, showing obvious relief when the names of the missing people they were searching for appeared.
Others had to endure the anguish and pain through the night and into Sunday before they discovered the worst - that their son, daughter, parent, friend was among the dead.
Emergency mortuary facilities were made available at Lisanelly Camp and bodies were taken there while the grim task of identification went on.
As the nightmare of Omagh was relayed to the Province and the world by radio and television natives of the area now living in other parts could only speak of their disbelief and shock as the death toll mounted. At first it was 10, then 15, 20,26,28. How many more?
As the funerals of the victims began to take place, business in Omagh remained at a standstill. The lower end of Market Street has been cordoned off since the bombing and most shops and other businesses in the rest of the town have been closed as a mark of respect.
Police said the cordoned off area was likely to stay closed until after the weekend to facilitate the continuing, painstaking search of the rubble for clues.
Mr. Anderson said the response by the public to date had been excellent.
"In the past we have appealed for information and people have tended to think it is up to someone else to contact us", he said. "It is now up to everyone. If anyone knows anything about this atrocity then they must come forward".
'Real IRA' targeted after admitting Omagh Bomb Atrocity
THE detective heading the hunt for the terrorists who carried out the bomb atrocity in Omagh on Saturday said yesterday (Wednesday) that they were fast closing in on the killers.
The investigation by Deputy Chief Constable for Crime, Eric Anderson, who was appointed to head the special R.U.C. task force immediately after the murder of 28 people and the wounding of 220 by the car bomb at the Dublin Road corner, is concentrating its interest on the so-called Real I.R.A. which has admitted responsibility.
Mr. Anderson said his team was receiving unprecedented co-operation from police forces across the British Isles and Eire.
"They are giving us every assistance we could possibly have in this investigation", he said.
In early morning swoops on houses in the Omagh area on Monday, police arrested five men who yesterday were still being questioned at Castlereagh.
The investigation headquarters is at Omagh Police Station, and the team there was joined on Tuesday by counter-terrorism experts drafted in from the Metropolitan Police in London. They had been involved in the aftermath of the Canary Wharf bombing which ended the Provisional I.R.A. ceasefire in February 1996.
Police are understood to have examined public telephone kiosks in South Armagh from which the killers may have made the misleading warning calls relating to the bomb.
The first call, made to a Belfast newsroom, gave a 40-minute warning of a bomb at the Courthouse, which resulted in police evacuating that part of the town and ushering people to the bottom of Market Street, where, unknown only to the bombers, a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier with its deadly 5001b cargo had already been parked outside Kells Outfitters Shop awaiting detonation.
The car had been stolen in Carrickmacross, on Thursday last and its Co. Donegal registration plate replaced with a Northern Ireland number.
In the vicinity were hundreds of people, men, mothers with young children, evacuated shop workers, young people out for an enjoyable sunny afternoon in the town.
Shrapnel
At 3.10 pm the device exploded, sending shards of shrapnel from the disintegrated car, broken glass and masonry slicing through the crowd. People have spoken of an ear-splitting blast, followed by an eerie silence and then the screams of the injured.
The full horror of the carnage was revealed as the smoke cleared. Victims, dead, unconscious and mutilated lay strewn in the street or in the shops, among them a child of only 18 months, another aged 20 months. Some of the injured staggered away from the scene covered in blood,
others wandered around dazed by shock, clothing in tatters not knowing what to do or where to go.
Then the harrowing search began in the rubble for lost children, parents or friends. Passers-by who rushed to help spoke of the awful carnage that confronted them.
Before the ambulances arrived buses, private cars, taxis, vans were used to take people to Tyrone County Hospital which was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the atrocity. Medical and nursing staff on duty were reinforced by off-duty or retired staff who immediately responded to an appeal for help broadcast on radio.
Other people wanting to help but not knowing what to do turned up at the hospital to donate blood.
Neighbouring hospitals, the Erne in Enniskillen, the South Tyrone in Dungannon, and the Altnagelvin in Londonderry as well as the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, had been alerted and many of the injured were flown to them by helicopter.
Then began the long and heart-breaking task of identifying the dead and injured. The hospital at Omagh was inundated with relatives searching for their loved ones. The Leisure Centre was converted for use as an emergency collating centre for lists of those injured as their names became known. Anxious parents, families, friends scanned them, showing obvious relief when the names of the missing people they were searching for appeared.
Others had to endure the anguish and pain through the night and into Sunday before they discovered the worst - that their son, daughter, parent, friend was among the dead.
Emergency mortuary facilities were made available at Lisanelly Camp and bodies were taken there while the grim task of identification went on.
As the nightmare of Omagh was relayed to the Province and the world by radio and television natives of the area now living in other parts could only speak of their disbelief and shock as the death toll mounted. At first it was 10, then 15, 20,26,28. How many more?
As the funerals of the victims began to take place, business in Omagh remained at a standstill. The lower end of Market Street has been cordoned off since the bombing and most shops and other businesses in the rest of the town have been closed as a mark of respect.
Police said the cordoned off area was likely to stay closed until after the weekend to facilitate the continuing, painstaking search of the rubble for clues.
Mr. Anderson said the response by the public to date had been excellent.
"In the past we have appealed for information and people have tended to think it is up to someone else to contact us", he said. "It is now up to everyone. If anyone knows anything about this atrocity then they must come forward".
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0001A
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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