A Sikh activist pleaded guilty to manslaughter today for his role in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 - the world's deadliest act of aviation sabotage before the hijacked airliner attacks of September 11th, 2001.
Speaking in a crowded courtroom amid tight security, Inderjit Singh Reyat announced his plea less than two months before he was set to go on trial with two other Sikh activists, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
All 329 people aboard Flight 182 were killed when the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet crashed off the Atlantic coast of Ireland on June 23rd, 1985.
The bombing, and a related explosion that killed two airport workers in Tokyo, were both alleged to be in revenge for the Indian Army's 1984 storming of the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine.
Reyat served 10 years on a manslaughter conviction for building the airport bomb. He is the first person to have entered a plea in connection with the Flight 182 attack.