Did MI5 and Garda Special Branch allow Omagh bombing?
British Military Intelligence and Gardaí Special Branch withheld information that would have thwarted the bombing of Omagh in August 1998 and saved the lives of 29 people, unborn twins and saved dozens of people from being seriously injured, say senior members of the PSNI. According to the Sunday Times, information from two agents alerted both the Gardaí and MI5 to the Omagh bombing, four months prior to the operation. One source was an American trucker Dave Rupert who infiltrated so-called dissident groups for MI5 and the FBI. The second alleged source was Paddy Dixon, a car dealer and petty criminal who supplied stolen cars, gave information to the Gardaí and may have been an agent for MI5. Dixon’s status as a British agent has not been established but it is alleged that in 2002 Dixon was given a new identity and resettled by MI5. In a meeting with the families of the Omagh victims last week, four senior members of the PSNI agreed that MI5 had known months in advance of a plot to bom
