Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced a judge-led independent probe of the 1998 car bombing in the town of Omagh that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and wounded hundreds more.
An Irish Republican Army dissident group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility, AP recalls.
A court in 2021 ordered the government to investigate in response to a legal challenge by Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed by the 225-kilogram (500-pound) bomb.
Gallagher alleges that intelligence failings allowed a “preventable atrocity” to occur in the busy market town.