BBC names Omagh bomb suspects

It was a powerful, gripping documentary

It was a powerful, gripping documentary. Personal testimony of the grief and loss felt daily by the families of the Omagh bomb victims mixed with disturbing new footage of the carnage wreaked by the bomb. And in the midst of the misery, the secret mobile telephone calls which sent 29 people to their deaths.

In last night's BBC Panorama television programme, journalist John Ware named four men suspected of involvement in the bombing. He claimed all four men lived in the Republic and had all been questioned in connection with the bombing, but there was still insufficient evidence to bring the men to trial.

The programme claimed 15 men were suspected of involvement in the bombing.

Mr Ware said two men, sitting in a parked car in Omagh town centre, primed a 500lb high explosive bomb and then casually walked away into the crowd. The men were former members of the Provisional IRA who were opposed to the peace process and were now members of the "Real IRA".

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It was claimed that the car was stolen to order two days earlier in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan and the bomb was placed inside. The car's Irish number plates were removed and replaced with Northern Irish plates.

The man who stole the car told gardai he was asked to do so by an intermediary, the programme said. The "intermediary" was a 30-year-old builder living near the Border who, the programme claimed, made several calls on a mobile telephone in connection with the car before it was parked in Omagh.

A "wealthy builder", whom the programme described as a "seasoned terrorist", allegedly took part in several telephone conversations referring to plans to plant the bomb.

The programme also alleged that another man, who owns a workshop and who made up to 50 calls on a mobile telephone in connection with the movement of the bomb, was also linked to mobile telephone calls relating to other "Real IRA" bombings.

A fourth man, alleged to be the officer commanding of the "Real IRA", was also tracked making calls on a mobile telephone allegedly given to him by his neighbour, the owner of the workshop, on the day of the bombing.

Shortly after the bomb exploded the builder's mobile telephone was tracked moving south towards the Border. The documentary claimed he telephoned a businessman who has since confirmed that the call took place, but he does not want to come forward to give evidence against the builder.

In a chilling close to the documentary, one of the builder's employees claimed that over a drink in a pub in Dundalk after the bombing he talked about the events of the day.

The employee had been involved in delivering the bomb to Omagh and the programme claimed the builder joked with his employee, saying: "You drove the yoke to Omagh".