man in court over 1998 northern ireland bombin

Man in court over 1998 Northern Ireland Omagh bombing, 29 murder charges

A man has appeared in court charged with murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bombing, the worst single atrocity of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The bomb tore through the market town on a busy Saturday afternoon, just months after the signing of peace accords which largely ended the three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

No-one has ever been convicted in a criminal court of carrying out the bombing before.

Seamus Daly, a supporter of the Irish republican cause who has been found liable for the bombing in a civil case, was remanded in custody by a judge as police kept guard outside.

He has been charged with 29 counts of murder, two additional offences linked to the Omagh explosion and two linked to an attempted explosion in Lisburn in April 1998.

Daly, 43, has always denied involvement in the bombing.

Relatives of some of the victims brought a civil action against five men they claimed were responsible, including Daly.

The Belfast High Court ruled in 2009 that Daly and three of the other four men were responsible and they were later ordered to pay more than $2.7 million in damages to the relatives.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed at Omagh, was in court for Daly's appearance.

He said earlier that the victims' families had never given up their fight for justice.

"It has been a long, difficult struggle," he told BBC radio.

"We have put the police, and both the British and Irish governments, under tremendous pressure and we continue to do that and we don't apologise for it."

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