Relatives of victims who died in the Omagh bombing of 1998 have been sharing their personal stories at a public inquiry into the attack. The Real IRA had driven a car bomb into Omagh town centre, killing 29 people, including Bryan White and his 60-year-old father, Fred. Speaking at the inquiry, Edith White, mother and wife to the victims respectively, revealed that she spent years looking for their bodies because she could not swallow their deaths. She was not the only bereaved relative in the proceedings who had delayed accepting her loved ones’ loss. Many were showing their personal items from the bombing site, grief-stricken.
Fred and Bryan had returned from vacation the day before the attack, and appeared happy and relaxed in a photograph shown at the inquiry. But within one day, both would be dead. Speaking at the inquiry, Michael Gallagher, a campaigner, whose 21-year-old son was also killed in the bombing, said the attack was a “declaration of war” by the Real IRA on unsuspecting civilians for their political benefit. Gallagher said he heard the explosion and knew that his son was in danger.
The Omagh bombing was particularly brutal, given that it took place just four months after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the peace deal designed to put an end to decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Gallagher said that Aiden Gallagher, his son, was interested in the mechanic industry, particularly planes and cars. He told the children’s inquiry that he and his family are proud that, despite the divided society in which they live, the contents of one’s heart is far more critical than one’s religious or political views.
According to Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann died in the attack, the aftermath of Dame Nuala O’Loan’s report on the attack, where it was found to have been avoidable, was “unbearable.” McCombe’s statement led him to push harder for a public inquiry and to stay resolute in his wishes for proper answers. McCombe describes his wife Ann as one of the most caring persons he has ever met and the love of his life. Alongside their son Clive, who misses his mother more secure, they struggle with moving on day-to-day and keeping her memory alive by being kind
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