The Omagh bombing refers to a car bomb attack carried out on August 15, 1998, which was terribly deadly. This event greatly alerted international opinion, and was perpetrated by the Real IRA, also known as the RIRA. This paramilitary organization is a dissident branch of the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army).
It all happened on a shopping street in Omagh, a small Northern Irish town in County Tyrone. At the time, Northern Ireland had just signed the Good Friday Agreement, creating some political tensions within the North. Some factions approve of these agreements, while others are unable to live up to them.
The Real IRA is one of the detractors of these Agreements and of the Peace Process. Their ideology was to liberate Northern Ireland from Great Britain, through large-scale bombings and murderous actions.
To make their point, the Real IRA then organized an attack by booby-trapping a car with explosives, and placing it in a busy shopping street. In all, the explosion killed 29 people and injured more than 220.
The bombing was described as the most heinous act ever perpetrated in Northern Ireland. The British government was quick to condemn the attack, as was Sinn Féin.
The Bogside Attacks in Northern Ireland 
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