"Until today you felt they were laughing at you," Kathy Gallagher says of the men accused in the worst terrorist attack in the history of Northern Ireland. The killers are laughing no more. This week, a judge in Belfast found the terror group - the Real IRA and four of its members liable for the 1998 bomb blast in the small town of Omagh in County Tyrone that killed more than two dozen people including Kathy Gallagher's brother Aiden.
The streets have been wiped clean but the stench of death still lingers in Omagh. It was approximately 3:10 in the afternoon on August 15, 1998 when the killers parked a stolen Vauxhall Cavlier on Lower County Road. The street was crowded with pedestrians - among them was a woman pregnant with twins and 9 children who would never see the morning come.
The original target had been the courthouse but the killers changed their plan when they couldn't find a parking space. Instead they slid into a spot outside a draper's shop and abandoned the stolen vehicle that was now packed with 500 pounds of explosives. Moments later - detonation. The blast tore children from their parents arms sending their limbs airborne while mothers and fathers were simply swallowed by a heavy rain of fire and shrapnel. In all, 29 innocent people were killed - another 300 wounded. Hell had come to Omagh and only the victims would be ordered to pay.
Until now that is. To this day, no one has been successfully prosecuted on criminal charges for the Omagh massacre. One alleged mastermind had gone to trial but was found not guilty on all counts. The defense managed to put authorities on trial for alleged mishandling of evidence and failure to respond to intelligence reports. Finally the families of Omagh gathered up their life savings and brought the murderers to civil court. The case began in 2000 with little hope for a just conclusion. Now -nine years later a judge has awarded these families more than $2.6 million. It's a small token for their pain and suffering but as one man who lost his wife in the bombing said, "It was never about money. We can stand and say that these men are responsible for Omagh. That's what we wanted."