Sinn Féin should urge republicans to come forward with information which could lead to the prosecution of those behind the Omagh bombing, the police officer in charge of the investigation said today.
Detective Superintendent Norman Baxter said, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the attack, which killed 29 people, that Sinn Féin should use its influence particularly in the republican heartland of South Armagh.
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He dismissed claims that republican concerns about the action of Special Branch officers should deter them from supplying information.
"The issue of Special Branch is a red herring," he said. "What we have is a coded message that certain republican elements do not believe that the people of Omagh were murdered, that the people who carried out the atrocity are murderers.
"Rather the message is that they are a result of a war situation. "The real question is: does the community believe that the perpetrators of Omagh are criminals within the criminal justice system?
"Do they believe the people who carried out the bombing in Omagh are killers or are they simply volunteers who went astray that day and carried out a mission that went wrong?"
Detective Superintendent Baxter said it was “distressing” that the bombers were still walking free.
PA
