The British government is to face demands by the relatives of the Omagh victims for a full public inquiry into the bombing of the town, which left 29 people dead, it emerged today.
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With Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan asking for more time to consider the devastating report into the investigation, angry families warned that a judicial hearing would have to be ordered.
Their official response will come next Wednesday when they meet Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan, whose draft report has caused consternation in Omagh and infuriated police chiefs.
It claimed Special Branch failed to pass on a tip-off of a threatened terrorist attack in Omagh on the day the Real IRA detonated the car bomb in August 1998.
Mr Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was among the dead, said today: "I have no grievance against the RUC, but I want the truth and I don't care who it hurts".
Mr McCombe said: "This report has brought us right back to square one. It has made me a very angry person and so mad. The politicians are shouting and slabbering about these claims and we want to know the truth. But some of them never came near us to ask how they could help. Where have they been for the last three years?"
Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty MLA has said the report will have a terrible impact the people of Omagh who are still putting their lives back together and that it was important they now get as much information as possible.
Mr Doherty has also criticised the Northern Secretary Dr John Reid for focusing on the leak when the content was what was important.
"The leak itself is neither here nor there," he said "what is important is the possibility that lives could have been saved. People in Omagh will be very, very angry and they must not be left out the loop at this stage."
It is understood the chief constable, who has challenged the findings, had considered taking legal action in advance of next week's publication because he believes the report contains factual inaccuracies, unwarranted assumptions, misunderstandings and material omissions.
The claim that Special Branch officers were given the warning 11 days before the attack and failed to pass it on to senior uniformed officers on the ground has provoked a full-scale political row which has left Omagh stunned.
Dr Reid said he utterly condemned the leaking of the draft report. He said it was wrong to suggest that Special Branch could have avoided the bombing.
Eleven days before the attack on August 15th, 1998, an anonymous call warned that four AK47 rifles and two rocket launchers were being smuggled into the greater Omagh area for an unspecified attack on police in the town.
An officer who took the call told the Special Branch, but the information was not passed on to commanders on the ground. Details did not emerge until July 2000 as part of an internal review of the inquiry.
Additional reporting: PA