Call for cross-border Public Inquiry into Omagh bombing which killed 29 people

MPs are to lay a wreath near the site of the Omagh bomb which killed 29 people.

The Northern Ireland Affairs committee will visit the Co Tyrone market town, which was ripped apart when a car exploded on its busy main street in August 1998.

Members will meet relatives of the victims after laying the wreath in Omagh`s memorial garden.

The Omagh Support and Self Help Group will call for a full cross-border public inquiry and is awaiting the completion of a report into the atrocity which it commissioned following criticism of the police investigation.

The previous chairperson of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Sir Patrick Cormack, has acknowledged that there are unanswered questions about the Omagh bomb and has expressed his hope that the new committee would address these outstanding issues.

Four men have been held responsible by a civil court for the bombing, the worst single attack of the 30-year conflict. A man accused of murder was cleared by a court in 2007.

A 2001 report by former Police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O`Loan criticised poor judgment in the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the years after the attack.

Victims have called for a cross-border public inquiry into alleged failings by police in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.