--WARNING: violent themes mentioned and potentially distressing images shown--

--BACKSTORY--
From 1969 to 1998, Northern Ireland was facing a civil war between the Irish Republicans (different from that kind of republicans) and the British Loyalists. It was a fight over the status of Northern Ireland, i.e. if it was considered Irish land or British land. The troubles began during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to end discrimination against the Catholic Republican / Nationalist minority by the Protestant Loyalist / unionist government and authorities, as many Catholics found it difficult to come by due to their religion / background. On August 15 1998, three months after the civil war had ended with the Good Friday Agreement, a car bombing occurred in the town known as Omagh at around 3PM. It killed 29 people, both Catholics and Protestants and injured over 300 others.

--WHO DID IT, AND WHY--
The bombing was caused by a paramilitary group known as the real Irish Republican army (real IRA), which was a Provisional Irish Republican Army splinter group who opposed the IRA's ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement, signed three months earlier in the year. They had made warning calls to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (the PSNI) 40 minutes before the bombing warning them of it, providing inaccurate details about the bomb's location. With these inaccurate details, the PSNI actually moved people towards the bomb. The real IRA shortly apologised and explained how people dying was a mistake, and later called a ceasefire.

--THE LIVES LOST--
As stated beforehand, 29 people were murdered and around 300 further were injured due to the bomb. The deaths included: both Protestants and Catholics, six teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with two children, two Spanish tourists and others on a day trip from the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

--WHAT HAPPENED AFTER--
Like I said before, the Real IRA denied that the bomb was intended to kill people and publicly apologised. Shortly after, the group declared a ceasefire. The bombing had quite obviously sparked outrage, as the bombing had contradicted the Good Friday Agreement made only shortly before. The Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair had called the bombing an "appalling act of savagery and evil." Queen Elizabeth II sympathised with the victims and the victims' families, and Charles III paid a visit to the town and spoke with the families of some of the victims.

--MT OPINION--
Overall, the bombing was utterly inhumane, even if it wasn't intended to injure anybody, it was still a horrible act. I myself have been to Omagh countless times and I have walked on the very street, and it's appalling that so many people died because a paramilitary wasn't happy with a ceasefire. Despite being on the Irish side, I still find it disgusting that the Real IRA could have committed such a tragedy.




IMAGE ABOVE: Vauxhall Cavalier containing the bomb. This photograph was taken shortly before the explosion. The man and child both survived. The photographer did not.


IMAGE ABOVE: The scene in Market Street minutes after the bomb went off.