State agent involved in planting Omagh bomb, inquiry told

Detailed summary

A state agent was among those who planted the Omagh bomb, a former senior police officer has told the inquiry investigating the 1998 inquiry.

A state agent was among those who planted the Omagh bomb, a former senior police officer has told the inquiry investigating the 1998 inquiry.

He was giving evidence to the UK public inquiry which is looking into whether the 1998 atrocity could have been stopped.

Twenty-nine people died, including a woman pregnant with twins, when the dissident republican car bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

"I believe that one of those who brought the bomb to Omagh on the day was an agent," Mr Baxter told the inquiry sitting in Belfast.

He also claimed that there had been a "coordinated obstruction" of the investigation he led in order to prevent the full truth of what happened emerging.

He described this as a "hypothesis" based on his understanding of the case.

He suggested it had been done to protect intelligence sources, prevent the public airing of sensitive police methods, and avoid a large scale policing operation in south Armagh at a politically sensitive time that might have threatened the Provisional IRA ceasefire.

He described a meeting he had attended with a senior officer in Mahon Road station Portadown on 14 August 1998 - the day before the bombing.

In the course of it, they were interrupted by an RUC special branch officer who said he had "something urgent" to discuss.

Opening of the article, excerpted from RTÉ. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.