Disclosure of Omagh bombing material an 'on-going process'

The bomb detonated in a car parked in the middle of the main street in the town

Almost 4,000 documents about the 1998 Omagh bombing have so far been shared with participants in the public inquiry, an update hearing in Belfast has been told.

Their contents run to around 65,000 pages.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, were murdered in the Real IRA attack on 15 August 1998.

The inquiry was established to determine if the bombing could have been prevented by UK state authorities.

Inquiry counsel Paul Greaney KC detailed the requests for information made of numerous authorities in the UK and Ireland, from where the attack was launched.

The disclosure of material remains an on-going process.

Mr Greaney welcomed the fact the UK parliament had recently agreed to release a transcript of secret evidence given16 years ago.

The evidence was provided to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee by Norman Baxter, the police officer who headed the Omagh bomb investigation.

Mr Baxter also gave some testimony in public.

Mr Greaney said he believed the process used to obtain the transcript was a first.

The inquiry opened earlier this year, with 14 days of testimony from bereaved families and survivors.

The next evidence phase of the inquiry will be held in March and will hear evidence on how the attack was carried out and by whom.

It is being chaired by Lord Turnbull, a retired Scottish judge.