Omagh: Ten Years On

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Omagh: Ten Years On

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Today marks precisely ten years since the Real IRA bombing of Omagh, Northern Ireland, on 15 August 1998. The bomb which ripped through the town centre that busy Saturday afternoon claimed the lives of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured more than two hundred more.

Omagh will fall silent today to mark the bloodiest day in the Northern Ireland Troubles, a day that shook Ireland both north and south, and sparked a lengthy and futile investigation that has yet to lead to a conviction.

Police Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has voiced his own frustration with the lack of progress in the investigation, saying that the killers should be brought to justice and "locked up—literally—and the key thrown away."