The Police Service of Northern Ireland said last night there were serious deficiencies in the Police Ombudsman's report which said it had advance information about the attack on Omagh.
A statement last night said a "request has been made to the Ombudsman's office for a reasonable period of time to respond in detail with what we see as the serious deficiencies in this report".
The report by Ms Nuala O'Loan is scathing of the police investigation into the attack. It alleges that the atrocity might have been averted had police checkpoints been in place on August 15th, the day of the explosion.
It is understood the Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, was asked to respond to the draft report by today so it could be presented to relatives of those killed next Wednesday.
The Ombudsman's office had already informed the relatives of this date however, and despite the suggestion of legal action from the Chief Constable, refused to give him extra time to respond.
The former UUP MP, Lord Maginnis, last night accused the Police Ombudsman of distorting the truth, insisting the RUC special branch did not receive a tip-off about the bombing.
Lord Maginnis said that 11 days before the bombing a message had been passed on to local police that two Continuity IRA members were planning to smuggle four guns and two rocket launchers into the Omagh area. The information was relayed to the special branch, which concluded that the men were local criminals with no paramilitary links.
Lord Maginnis told BBC's Newsnight that the Ombudsman had "walked through police and community interests like a suicide bomber".
Mr Michael Gallagher, the father of one of those killed in Omagh, has said he and the other families would be "totally devastated" if allegations about warnings of an attack on the town proved correct.
A spokesman for the Ombudsman's office would not confirm the details of the leaks. However, well-placed sources said Mrs O'Loan's report draws heavily on an internal RUC review of the investigation into the bombing.
The RUC report refers to the warning, given to a detective in Omagh on August 4th, 1998, 11 days before the bombing. During a 10-minute conversation, the anonymous caller said that weapons were being smuggled over the Border in preparation for an attack on police in the town on August 15th, the day of the bombing. The weapons were to be used by the Continuity IRA, the caller said.
The "Real IRA" later admitted responsibility for the attack.
The officer passed the information to RUC Special Branch but it was July last year before its existence was discovered, when files were checked in an internal review of the investigation ordered by the Chief Constable.
According to the report, the Special Branch claimed that two men named by the caller as those who were to take delivery of the weapons in the days before the planned attack were criminals and that the information was not connected to Omagh. The RUC report also claimed there was ambiguity in the management structures of the Omagh investigation and that the inquiry team was not sufficiently staffed.
Important information regarding suspects and witnesses was not recorded, it claimed. It has also been claimed that the investigation was hampered by inadequate resources, with the investigative team cut by 40 per cent after two months, inexperienced staff and an insufficient exchange of information with garda∅.
Ms O'Loan's inquiry began after "Kevin Fulton", an RUC informer claimed he had warned his handlers two days before the attack that one was imminent.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, "Fulton" said he had given the RUC "a 48-hour head start", with his warning. It is understood the Ombudsman's report will say "Fulton's" warning was too vague to have averted the bombing.
A Police Federation of Northern Ireland spokesman said Ms O'Loan should consider her position. That call was echoed by Mr Sammy Wilson, a DUP member of the police board.