The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that Canada-based Khalistani extremists were responsible for the bombing of Air India Flight 182, also known as the Kanishka, in 1985. The attack killed all 329 people on board, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in Canada\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The acknowledgement comes more than four decades after the bombing and formally aligns with India\u2019s long-standing position that the attack was carried out by Khalistani extremists operating from Canadian soil.<\/p>\n
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In a Facebook post marking the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism, CSIS described the bombing as a defining moment for Canada\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn June 23, 1985, a bomb planted by Canada-based Khalistani extremists destroyed the aircraft, killing everyone on board, most of them Canadians. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canada\u2019s history and a defining moment for our national security community.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened in the Kanishka bombing?<\/p>\n
Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747 named Emperor Kanishka, was travelling from Montreal to New Delhi via London on June 23, 1985, when a bomb hidden inside checked baggage exploded mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland.<\/p>\n
The explosion occurred about 45 minutes before the aircraft was scheduled to land at London\u2019s Heathrow Airport. All 329 passengers and crew members were killed. Most of the victims were Canadian citizens of Indian origin, while 24 were Indian nationals. Search teams recovered only 131 bodies from the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Investigators found that the suitcase containing the explosive device had been checked in by a passenger who never boarded the flight. The bomb was allegedly planted by a member of the banned Khalistani terrorist group Babbar Khalsa.<\/p>\n
The attack was widely seen as retaliation for \u2018Operation Blue Star\u2019, the Indian military operation launched in 1984 to remove armed Sikh separatists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s response over the years<\/p>\n
In 2005, Canada designated June 23 as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.<\/p>\n
Five years later, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologised to the families of the victims after a public inquiry found serious failures by Canadian authorities before and after the bombing. The inquiry, led by former Supreme Court Justice John Major, concluded there had been a \u201ccascading series of errors\u201d by security agencies and that the tragedy had initially been viewed as an \u201cIndian issue,\u201d reducing the urgency of the investigation.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADCarney remembers victims<\/p>\n
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also paid tribute to the victims this week, calling the Kanishka bombing the country\u2019s worst terrorist attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cForty-one years ago today, the bombing of Air India Flight 182 claimed 329 innocent lives, including 268 Canadians. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canada\u2019s history,\u201d Carney said in a statement.<\/p>\n
He also reiterated that Canada stands against terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms.<\/p>\n
Why the acknowledgement matters<\/p>\n
The CSIS statement is significant because it is the first explicit public acknowledgement by Canada\u2019s intelligence agency that Canada-based Khalistani extremists carried out the bombing.<\/p>\n
The development comes as India and Canada work to rebuild diplomatic ties after relations deteriorated sharply in 2023 following allegations made by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that Canada-based Khalistani extremists were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37442,37433,13603,37437,37431,37441,37435,17,37436,13961,37444,37440,13604,13493,16459,37438,37432,37434,111,37443,37439],"class_list":["post-104329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-1985-air-india-bombing","tag-air-india-bombing-1985","tag-air-india-flight-182","tag-air-india-flight-182-attack","tag-air-india-kanishka-bombing","tag-air-india-terror-attack","tag-babbar-khalsa","tag-canada","tag-canada-admits-khalistani-role","tag-canada-khalistani-extremists","tag-canada-latest-news","tag-canada-terrorism","tag-canada-india-relations","tag-canadian-security-intelligence-service","tag-csis","tag-emperor-kanishka","tag-kanishka-bombing","tag-khalistani-terrorists","tag-mark-carney","tag-national-day-of-remembrance-for-victims-of-terrorism","tag-operation-blue-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}