A civil case by relatives of some of the Omagh bomb victims against five men they suspect of involvement in the Real IRA attack opened at the High Court in Belfast this morning.
The five named in the claim include leading dissident republican Michael McKevitt from Co Louth.
The others are Colm Murphy, Liam Campbell, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly. The five defendants deny involvement in the explosion.
Mr McKevitt is awaiting judgment in an appeal against a conviction by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin for directing terrorism for the Real IRA.
29 people, including a woman expecting twins, died in the Omagh bombing nearly ten years ago. Six of the victim's families are now pursuing the civil legal action seeking damages from the five men.
The case is being heard by Mr Justice Morgan and is expected to last for eight weeks.
Part of the trial is to be relocated to Dublin next month in order to hear evidence from 24 garda officers.
The legal team for the Omagh families is headed by leading English lawyer Lord Daniel Brennan, who is making his opening statement today.
Opening the case, Mr Brennan called the attack 'a massacre of the innocents'. He said the civil claim was probably unprecedented in the world.
For the first time, he said, victims of terrorism were suing the alleged perpetrators.
Lawyers representing the defendents objected to Mr Brennan's description of them as terrorists and to his listing a history of their previous convictions at this stage.
But the judge let him continue and pointed out that what was said in the opening of a case did not amount to fact in law.
