 The aircraft involved, VT-EFO, seen landing at London Heathrow Airport on 10 June 1985, less than two weeks before the incident | |
| Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Date | 23 June 1985 |
| Summary | In-flight breakup due to terrorist bombing by the Babbar Khalsa |
| Site | Atlantic Ocean, 190 km (120 mi) WSW of Waterville, Ireland 51°4′N 12°49′W / 51.067°N 12.817°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-237B |
| Aircraft name | Emperor Kanishka |
| Operator | Air India |
| IATA flight No. | AI182 |
| ICAO flight No. | AIC182 |
| Call sign | AIRINDIA 182 |
| Registration | VT-EFO |
| Flight origin | Toronto Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Canada (as Flight 181) |
| 1st stopover | Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, Mirabel, Quebec, Canada |
| 2nd stopover | London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom |
| Last stopover | Palam International Airport, Delhi, India |
| Destination | Sahar International Airport, Bombay, India |
| Occupants | 329 |
| Passengers | 307 |
| Crew | 22 |
| Fatalities | 329 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Air India Flight 182 was a passenger flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Mumbai route, that on 23 June 1985, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean as a result of an explosion from a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists.[1][2][3] It was operated using a Boeing 747-237B registered VT-EFO. The incident happened en route from Montreal to London at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m). The remnants of the aircraft fell into the sea approximately 190 kilometres (120 miles) off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 22 Indian citizens.[4] The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history, the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Air India and was the world's deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks in 2001.[1][5][6] The mastermind behind the bombing was believed to be Inderjit Singh Reyat, a dual British-Canadian national, who pleaded guilty in 2003[7][8] and Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Canadian Sikh separatist leader, who was one of the key individuals associated with the militant group Babbar Khalsa.[9]
The plan's execution had transnational consequences and involved citizens and governments from five nation states. Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh terrorist and Khalistani separatist group, was implicated in the bombing.[10] Although a handful of people were arrested and tried for the Air India bombing, the only person convicted was Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter.[11][12] He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assembling the bombs that exploded on board Air India Flight 182 and at Narita.[13][14]
The subsequent investigation and prosecution lasted almost twenty years. This was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly C$130 million. The two accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were both acquitted and found not guilty.
The Governor General-in-Council in 2006 appointed the former Supreme Court Justice John C. Major to conduct a commission of inquiry. His report, which was completed and released on 17 June 2010, concluded that a "cascading series of errors" by the Government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had allowed the terrorist attack to take place.[15]
- ^ a b Bell, Stewart (2014). "Leadership and the Toronto 18". In Bruce Hoffman; Fernando Reinares (eds.). The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's Death. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-231-16898-4.
- ^
Additional references:
- Weston, Keith (2012). "Counter-Terrorism Policing and the Rule of Law: The Best of Friends". In Ana Salinas de Frías; Katja Samuel; Nigel White (eds.). Counter-Terrorism: International Law and Practice. Oxford University Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0199608928.
- Flight 182 (Canada), Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India; Major, John Charles (2010). Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy. Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182. p. 21. ISBN 978-0660199269.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Laqueur, Walter (1999). The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-19-514064-4.
- Owens, John E.; Pelizzo, Riccardo (2010). The War on Terror" and the Growth of Executive Power?": A Comparative Analysis. Routledge. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-136-95694-2.
- O'Kane, Rosemary H. T. (6 June 2014). Terrorism. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-317-86057-0.
- "Suspects in the Air India Bombing". ABC News.
- "Investigation into the Kanishka Bombing 1985".
- "Lessons to be learned". 21 December 2018.
- ^
- Government of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada. "Information archivée dans le Web" (PDF). publications.gc.ca. p. 151. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- Anand, Anita I. (2011). "Combating Terrorist Financing: Is Canada's Legal Regime Effective?". The University of Toronto Law Journal. 61 (1): 61. ISSN 0042-0220. JSTOR 23018689.
- "Amritsar terrorist attack: Pakistan's desperation to revive militancy in Punjab, India". www.efsas.org. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- Johnston, Ingrid; Mangat, Jyoti (2012), Johnston, Ingrid; Mangat, Jyoti (eds.), Spaces of Impact, Reading Practices, Postcolonial Literature, and Cultural Mediation in the Classroom, Rotterdam: SensePublishers, pp. 1–13, doi:10.1007/978-94-6091-705-9_1, ISBN 978-94-6091-705-9, retrieved 21 September 2023
- Goldman, Zachary K.; Rascoff, Samuel J. (2016). Global Intelligence Oversight: Governing Security in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-045809-6.
- Hamilton, Dwight (1 February 2007). Inside Canadian Intelligence: Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism. Dundurn. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-55002-729-7.
- Caldwell, Dan; Jr, Robert E. Williams (2011). Seeking Security in an Insecure World. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4422-0805-6.
- Rubin, Barry; Rubin, Judith Colp (2015). Chronologies of Modern Terrorism. Routledge. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-317-47465-4.
- Martin, Gus (2011). The Sage Encyclopedia of Terrorism (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. p. 544. ISBN 978-1-4522-6638-1.
- Gurski, Phil (2015). The Threat From Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-Inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-4422-5562-3.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
The Victimswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Goldman, Zachary K.; Rascoff, Samuel J. (2016). Global Intelligence Oversight: Governing Security in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0190458089.
- ^ "Man Convicted for 1985 Air India Bombing Now Free". Time. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ "Inderjit Singh Reyat, only person convicted in Air India bombing, released from halfway house – BC". GlobalNews.ca. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Canada sets free 1985 Air India flight Kanishka bomber Inderjit Singh Reyat". India Today. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Men acquitted in Air India bombings". NBC News. 16 March 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ Roach, Kent (2011). "The Air India Report and the Regulation of Charities and Terrorism Financing". The University of Toronto Law Journal. 61 (1): 46. doi:10.3138/utlj.61.1.045. ISSN 0042-0220. JSTOR 23018688.
- ^ Gilligan, Andrew (21 April 2008). "Ken's adviser is linked to terror group". The London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
- ^ Bolan, Kim (9 February 2008). "Air India bombmaker sent to holding centre". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
dowdwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Convicted Air India bomb-builder Inderjit Singh Reyat gets bail". CBC News. 9 July 2008. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Inquiry completedwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).