Omagh bomb attack: mass murder trial is going to be

The PSNI have refused to comment on reports that a man is to be charged with the murder of 29 people killed in the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/98/386/14050_.html ' target=_blank>Omagh bomb attack in August 1998.

A police spokesman would only say that the Omagh enquiry remains a live investigation.

The Press Association news agency is reporting that the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2001/09/02/13993.html ' target=_blank>Director of Public Prosecutions in Belfast has given police the go-ahead to charge the man following a new investigation, informs RTE.

Papers outlining details of the charges are due to be served later this month on Sean Gerard Hoey, 35, an electrician from Jonesborough, south Armagh.

It will be one the biggest mass murder trials in British and Irish legal history. Hoey is already in custody on a series of terrorist charges and membership of the Real IRA, the dissident republican group which bombed Omagh in August 1998.