Irish army 'warned' day before Omagh bomb
The Irish security forces appeared to receive a warning of the Omagh bombing the day before it happened.
The contents of a handwritten note detailing an anonymous phone call to a Donegal army barracks were revealed in the Omagh inquiry this week.
According to that note, on August 14, 1998 the caller warned security forces to “keep an eye on the back roads”, to patrol the area and warn the Irish police. The call ended with the repeated word “Omagh, Omagh, Omagh”.
The following day a devastating car bomb ripped through the heart of the Co Tyrone town, killing 31 people including unborn twins and injuring around 220 more.
The note was presented as former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan gave evidence. She confirmed that neither her nor her office were aware of the phone call’s existence, stating: “Had we [been], I would have remembered that.”
The warning call was first mentioned in evidence given at the start of this week by journalist John Ware, who reported extensively on the bombing.
“It would appear that a warning that something was going to happen imminently to the town of Omagh was received,” he stated.
“Now what [Irish police force] the guards did with that, I don’t know.”
Speaking to broadcaster UTV outside the inquest after the note was produced, Clare Hayes, whose brother was killed in the bomb, said she is “glad it’s got to the public domain”.
She also called for Irish authorities to state what was done with the information in the apparent warning call.