Irish police arrest three men over Omagh bomb atrocity

Three men were arrested in the Irish Republic yesterday in connection with the Omagh bombing inquiry, bringing the number of people interrogated about the attack close to 100.

Three men were arrested in the Irish Republic yesterday in connection with the Omagh bombing inquiry, bringing the number of people interrogated about the attack close to 100.

The three yesterday, all in their twenties, were arrested in early-morning raids in the border counties of Louth and Monaghan, said an Irish police spokesman. They were taken to a Monaghan police station for questioning as part of the investigation into the car-bomb attack that killed 29 in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

Several men were picked up by police as part of the same investigation some weeks ago, but were released without charge. Two men are on remand in the Republic for offences related to the bombing or to membership of the Real IRA, which made the attack.

Earlier this month, an inquest into the 29 deaths ended in Omagh. A senior RUC officer told the hearing that 81 arrests had been made, 58 by gardai in the Republic and 23 by the RUC. Relatives of victims who met senior RUC and Garda officers at the time of the inquest said they were hopeful more prosecutions would be brought.

The Omagh Support Group chairman Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan died in the explosion, said at the time: "We are two and a half years down the line and not one person north or south has been charged with a single murder of a person in Omagh."

One man has been charged in connection with the bomb. Colm Murphy, a publican and builder from Dundalk, Co Louth, has been charged at Dublin's Special Criminal Court with conspiring to cause an explosion.

The Real IRA is also believed to have launched the rocket attack on the headquarters of MI6 in London last month.