Mourners remember Oklahoma bombing

( AP)

Survivors and family members of the 168 people who died in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building gathered yesterday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the attack. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to remember those killed – and the 600 people inured – in the 19 April, 1995, attack at the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building.

Before the ceremony, bells tolled in Oklahoma City's downtown and some family members visited the site of the federal building razed in the bombing by the extreme nationalist and white supremacist, Timothy McVeigh. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said the day of the bombing is recalled with reverence, "not because we can't forget but because we choose to remember".

Among those attending the ceremony was Charlie Hangar, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped the convicted bomber, Timothy McVeigh on Interstate 35 the day of the attack because his car did not have a license plate. People across Oklahoma City observed 168 seconds of silence to honour the dead. McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001.