Real IRA man charged with 29 murders in Northern Ireland's 1998 Omagh bombing refused bail

Seamus Daly, centre, arrives in a police car at Dungannon Court, Northern Ireland, Friday, April, 11, 2014. Seamus Daly, 43, from Cullaville, Co Monaghan in the Irish Republic, has already been found liable for the August 1998 attack in the Co Tyrone town in a landmark civil case. Thursday evening, detectives charged him with 29 counts of murder. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) (The Associated Press)

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – An Irish Republican Army veteran has been refused bail at his arraignment on 29 charges of murder for the 1998 car-bombing of the Northern Ireland town of Omagh.

Seamus Daly did not speak or offer a plea during Friday's half-hour hearing at a court west of Belfast amid high police security.

Police testified that Daly replied "no comment" Thursday night when he was charged with mass murder, then he read a written statement denying involvement in the attack committed by the Real IRA faction.

Lawyers for the 43-year-old Daly argued that he would not jump bail to the Republic of Ireland, where IRA suspects often go to evade the British justice system. But the judge said he was likely to flee and ordered him jailed without bail.