Word: attacks
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...landmark case on Monday, a Belfast judge found four men and the dissident terrorist group the Real IRA liable for the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people and unborn twins, and awarded more than $2.6 million in damages to the families of those who died in the attack. But as well as bringing relief to the small market town of Omagh in Northern Ireland, Justice Declan Morgan's judgment could pave the way for victims' families around the world to pursue terrorists in civil court cases...
...Before this verdict, the Omagh families had failed time and time again in their attempts to bring the perpetrators of Ireland's bloodiest terrorist attack to justice. It wasn't until 2007 that someone finally stood trial in Northern Ireland for the August 1998 attack that killed 29 and injured 250 when a bomb hidden in a stolen car parked on the busy High Street exploded. But the accused, Sean Hoey, was found not guilty of 29 counts of murder and other charges relating to the attack. (See pictures of new hope for Belfast...
...judge at Hoey's trial strongly criticized the police's handling of forensic evidence, and a subsequent report by Northern Ireland's police ombudsman claimed that the police had failed to act on intelligence reports regarding a possible bomb attack in the town. Even Sir Hugh Orde, chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland, admitted after Hoey's acquittal that it was "highly unlikely" that anyone would be successfully prosecuted for the Omagh bombing. Prior to that, Colm Murphy - one of the five accused in the families' civil case - was sentenced to 14 years in jail...
...Monday's judgment finally turned the tables in the families' favor. Four of the accused - Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, none of whom were present in court - were judged to have assisted in the organization and execution of the bomb attack, with Justice Morgan describing the evidence against them as "overwhelming." (McKevitt and Campbell are known to have been members of the Real IRA at the time of the attack, while Murphy was described as having been a member of another IRA splinter group, the Continuity IRA, in August 1998. There is no proof that Daly...
...Until today, you felt that [the five accused] were laughing at you and that people said it was a waste of time," says Kathy Gallagher, 31, whose brother Aidan died in the attack. "We're so glad to have this result. Now I feel like we have the last laugh on them...