Liam Campbell: SDLP to 'reverse' opposition to Omagh bomb suspect extradition

Image source, PACEMAKER

Image caption, The Omagh bomb killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins

The SDLP will reverse its decision to back a motion opposing the extradition of a man held liable for the Omagh bomb, party leader Colum Eastwood said.

Liam Campbell, from Dundalk, is wanted in Lithuania over allegations he was part of an operation to buy guns and bombs for the Real IRA.

Fermanagh and Omagh Council's policy committee voted to oppose the extradition with the support of SDLP, Sinn FΓ©in and others.

Mr Eastwood said it was wrong.

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No-one has ever been convicted of the dissident republican attack, that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

In June 2009, Liam Campbell was found liable, along with convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, for the Omagh bombing.

That verdict followed a landmark civil action brought by relatives of some of those killed in the atrocity.

At Thursday evening's committee meeting, DUP and Ulster Unionist councillors voted against independent councillor Bernice Swift's motion.

In June, Dublin's High Court ordered Liam Campbell's extradition to the Baltic state.

The committee also agreed to write to Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) MicheΓ‘l Martin to voice its opposition.

On Thursday, Mr Eastwood, the SDLP leader, tweeted that the party will also "offer to meet with the Omagh families to express our profound regret".

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SDLP Fermanagh and Omagh Council group Leader Mary Garrity said she wanted to acknowledge "the pain and hurt the decision has caused this morning, particularly to the Omagh bomb families and I want to apologise unreservedly".

"When the matter comes before the full council for ratification, SDLP councillors will oppose the motion," she added.

"The SDLP has opposed violence and the perpetrators of violence for fifty years, it was never our intention to cause additional hurt to victims and as a council group, we regret that."

The vote sparked an angry reaction from unionist councillors.

Ulster Unionist Councillor Chris Smyth, the district council's chairman, said the motion's passing had left him feeling "physically sick".

Image caption, In 2009, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were found responsible for the bombing in a landmark civil trial

Mr Smyth said it would be a "cold day in hell" before he puts his name to any letter to the Dublin government in opposing the extradition.

"This nauseating proposal referred to the human rights of Liam Campbell but paid no regard to the rights of the 29 people and two unborn children who were murdered on the streets of Omagh in 1998," he said.

"I thought the rights of our citizens would have been the primary concern of the council which covers the Omagh area," he added.

In a statement, the DUP's representatives on the council said they were "truly sickened, angry and upset" by the vote.

"Any support of Liam Campbell is not in our name and was forthrightly opposed by our party during the meeting," the statement added.

The motion will now go to full council.