Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Canadian of Sikh origin who was accused and acquitted of the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history – the bombing of an Air India plane in 1985, in which 329 people died – was killed on Thursday (14) , according to his family.
Malik, 75, was shot in the western Canadian city of Surrey in the morning, relatives of the deceased said.
The Canadian Mounted Police confirmed in a statement that one individual died as a result of injuries received in a shooting in Surrey, although they did not identify the deceased.
Police sources also described the killing as intentional and said a vehicle, which had apparently been used in the attack, was later found on fire.
Canadian police and intelligence have linked Malik, who emigrated to Canada in 1972, with the Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh terrorist group whose aim is the creation of Calistan, a Sikh state in northwest India.
The Sikh religion originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region, currently under the control of India and Pakistan, and is considered the fifth largest religion in the world by number of practitioners, with around 25 million adherents.
Sikhs are considered an ethnic group in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
86 children killed
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were accused by Canadian police of planting a bomb on Air India Flight 182, which was flying between Montreal and New Delhi with a stopover in London.
The plane exploded over the Atlantic off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 occupants, including 86 children, most of whom were Canadians of Indian origin.
In addition, another bomb intended for another Air India plane and hidden in a suitcase exploded the same day at Tokyo airport, killing two Japanese workers.
Authorities believe the attacks were retaliation for the Indian Army’s 1984 attack on the Golden Temple in Amristar, which killed hundreds of Sikhs.
In 2005, a Canadian court acquitted Malik and Bagri of all charges on the grounds that the witnesses presented by the prosecution were unreliable.
In 2003, Inderjit Singh Reyat was sentenced to 24 years in prison for being the author of the bomb used against Flight 182.
In 2010, a jury found Reyat guilty of perjury after it was shown that he lied at least 20 times during Malik and Bagri’s trial to protect the two defendants.
#Suspect #Canadas #worst #terrorist #attack #shot #dead