Campaigners promise to take government to court as Northern Ireland secretary says further investigation is not justified
Families of the victims of the Omagh bomb in 1998 have vowed to take the government to court after branding its decision to rule out a public inquiry into the attack as a bid to hide from the truth.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Theresa Villiers ruled out another investigation into the blast by the Real IRA, which killed 29 people.
Campaigners claim the British and Irish governments could have done more to prevent the bombing.
Villiers justified her decision saying there were not "sufficient grounds to justify a further review or inquiry above and beyond those that have already taken place or are ongoing".
The car bomb hit the County Tyrone town just months after the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement.
Nobody has been criminally convicted of the crime but four dissident republicans were found liable in a civil case brought by relatives of some of the victims.
Villiers said the decision had not been easy but yet another inquiry would not be in the public interest. Some of the victims' families have been pushing for an inquiry, while others feel it would cause further trauma.
"I believe that the ongoing investigation by the office of the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland is the best way to address any outstanding issues relating to the police investigation into the Omagh attack," she said.
"The fact remains that the Real IRA carried out the bombing in Omagh on 15 August 1998, murdering 29 people and injuring many more. Responsibility is theirs alone. I sincerely hope that the ongoing police investigation will bring to justice those responsible for this brutal crime.
"I have met representatives of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, as have a number of my predecessors as secretary of state. I have offered to meet them again to explain my decision further if they wish."
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden was killed in the attack, condemned the "trivial" reasons given by Villiers for ruling out an inquiry.
"Should we be denied truth and justice because other people don't want it?" he told Sky News. "The reality is that Aiden need not have died. Both the British and Irish governments failed to protect the human rights of those people." Some of the bereaved families have handed the government an independent report which they claim shows alleged intelligence failings by the authorities in the runup to the attack.
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed, said the anger he felt at the government's decision would drive him onward as the families proceeded with legal action.
"If they want to try and hide the truth about Omagh, they can," he said. "But we'll flush them out at the end of the day. There are no hiding places.
"It's a democratic country and people have to know the truth."