1991 - Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was blown to smithereens by a human bomb seconds after he alighted from his car at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu state during the election campaign. At least 15 more people were killed in the explosion and only Rajiv’s head and legs from the knees down were visible after the blast. Rajiv’s remains were removed to Taramani Medical Research Centre from where they were to be flown to New Delhi by a special Indian Air Force plane. Maragadham Chandra Shekhar, a Congress candidate from the constituency who was also along with Rajiv Gandhi, escaped unhurt. Rajiv, 46, was killed instantly as he received bouquets of flowers from supporters.
Other important events
1819 - The first bicycles in the US roll along the streets of New York.
1840 - New Zealand is declared a British colony.
1881 - American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
1923 - Stanley Baldwin is elected prime minister of Great Britain after the resignation of Andrew Bonar Lar.
1927 - US aviator Charles A. Lindbergh completes the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1956 - First hydrogen bomb is exploded by United States over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1967 - More than 300 people die in a department store fire in Brussels, Belgium.
1982 - British paratroopers and Royal Marine Commandos storm Falkland Islands.
1993 - Venezuelan Senate suspends President Carlos Andres Perez over embezzlement allegations.
1996 - A ferry strikes a rock and sinks in Lake Victoria in Tanzania. About 550 people drown.
1997 - Ukraine and Poland sign a reconciliation agreement to formally end conflict and put centuries of bloodshed behind them.
1998 - Indonesian President Suharto resigns, bringing his 32-year reign to dramatic close.
1999 - More than 1,000 people are rescued from lifeboats as a burning cruise ship from Singapore sinks off the coast of Malaysia.
2000 - UAE and Jordan sign agreements on the establishment of a free trade zone.
2001 - The UN Security Council declares the Congo River open again after two and a half years of war.
2002 - The US lifts a freeze on financial aid to Yugoslavia.
2003 - A 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Algeria, at least 2,200 people are killed.
2009 - The Cairo criminal court sentences Egyptian business tycoon Hesham Tala’at Mustafa to death for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim.
2012 - A suicide bomber, dressed in military uniform, kills more than 90 soldiers and injures 200 others at a military parade rehearsal in Yemen.
2014 - Jacob Zuma is re-elected President of South Africa for a second term.
