Omagh bomb car details passed to NI police before attack

A senior garda has told a public inquiry that details of a car stolen in the Republic of Ireland and later used to bomb Omagh was among a list of stolen vehicles passed to police in Northern Ireland two days before the 1998 atrocity.

Twenty-nine people were killed, including the mother of unborn twins, when the Real IRA detonated a car bomb in the town on 15 August 1998.

Detective Superintendent Emmet Casserly is attached to the Special Detective Unit of An Garda Síochána with responsibility for dealing with terrorism.

He did not attend the public inquiry hearing in Belfast today.

Instead his video statement was recorded by the inquiry team in Dublin a fortnight ago, following the agreement of Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan.

It was played to the inquiry this morning.