Bob Geldof has vowed to help get justice for relatives of the Omagh bomb victims.

Speaking before a major fundraising dinner in Warrington, Cheshire, the former Boomtown Rats star said: "August 1998 was our 11 September.

"A plan was made to destroy life randomly."

Friday night's event was to help raise some of the �2m for the Omagh families who hope to bring a groundbreaking civil action against terrorists.

Cash needed

Although almost �1m has been raised, they must find the rest in the coming months.

Twenty-nine people, including a pregnant mother expecting twins, were killed in the Omagh bomb.

In March 1993, two children were killed by the Provisional IRA in Warrington town centre when two bombs exploded in litter bins.

Mr Geldof said: "The civil action is a whole new weapon against terrorism.

"It's a means of showing our contempt to the killers to their faces by exposing them and having them found guilty.

Support received

"It was a crime that's still beyond belief.

"The killers are walking around with smirks on their faces. We cannot let them get away with it."

Victor Barker, 45, a solicitor from Weybridge, Surrey, lost his 12-year-old son James in the Omagh bomb.

Mr Barker said he was overwhelmed by the support that families of victims had received.

"It's amazing," he said. "This is the first time we have held a function of this kind in the North of England and to have so many people support us is fantastic."