Omagh bombing: Seamus Daly charged with murdering 29 people

The high-profile Republican will appear in court on Friday

Royal Ulster Constabulary police officers and firefighters inspect the damage caused by the 1998 bomb explosion in Market Street, Omagh (PA)

A 43-year-old man has been charged with murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bombing – the bloodiest attack in decades of Northern Ireland’s Troubles.

Seamus Daly, from Cullaville, Co Monaghan in the Irish Republic, was one of four men found liable for the bombing in a civil court case.

The Omagh attack, which came shortly after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, was claimed by the breakaway Real IRA group.

Among the victims were 11 children, including two aged just 18 and 20 months, a woman pregnant with twins, and two people visiting from Spain.

Confused telephone warnings about the bomb led to a crowd of civilians being evacuated towards the car carrying the bomb.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “Detectives from Serious Crime Branch investigating the 1998 Omagh bombing have charged a 43-year-old man with the murders of the 29 people who died in the explosion.”

They said he was arrested in Newry on Monday and charged tonight.

In addition to 29 murders, he was also accused of two other charges “in relation” to the explosion in August 1998 and two charges stemming from an attempted explosion in Lisburn in April of that year. British army explosives experts defused that bomb.

In the civil court case five years ago, which was brought by families of the victims, Daly and the three others were ordered to pay £1.6m.

Previously, an electrician from Northern Ireland was charged with making the bomb, but a judge found that the forensic evidence was flawed and police offered misleading testimony.

Daly will appear at Dungannon Magistrates Court on Friday.