1992 -Thousands of Hindu fanatics stormed and destroyed a Babri mosque in Ayodhya in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, sparking nationwide outrage and fears of large-scale Hindu-Muslim riots. Frenzied Hindu mobs invaded the 16th-century mosque armed with pick-axes, hammers and swords, bringing down its three giant domes and walls in about four hours. They then resumed a drive to build a temple at the disputed site. The Hindus first attacked security forces and after braving repeated teargassing and baton-charges began working on the mosque. Security forces at the site failed to prevent the destruction. After razing it, cheering members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) began carrying away pieces of rubble as souvenirs.
Other important events
1916 - Bucharest, capital of Romania, falls to German troops.
1917 - Collision between Belgian and French ammunition ships at Halifax, Canada, takes 1,600 lives.
1921 - Britain signs peace treaty with Ireland establishing Irish Free State and Ireland accepts Dominion status.
1923 - A presidential address is broadcast on radio for the first time as US President Calvin Coolidge speaks to a joint session of Congress.
1938 - France and Germany sign pact on inviolability of their frontier.
1956 - B. R. Ambedkar (Babasaheb), Indian politician, social reformer and equal rights campaigner, dies.
1957 - America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit blows up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1961 - Heavy fighting erupts in Congo’s Katanga Province between United Nations and Katanga forces.
1967 - The first human heart transplant in the US, and the first-ever paediatric heart transplant is performed by cardiac surgeon Adrian Kantrowitz.
1973 - Gerald Ford becomes Vice President of the US following Spiro Agnew’s resignation.
1983 - The first heart and lung transplant in Britain was performed at Harefield Hospital, London by renowned surgeon Magdi Yacoub.
1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussain orders the release of all foreign hostages.
1991 - Stjepan Mesic, President of Yugoslavia, resigns.
1997 - A Russian military transport plane crashes into a residential area of Irkutsk in eastern Siberia, killing around 150 people.
1998 - Hugo Chavez is elected president of Venezuela.
2004 - Armed men set off explosives and shoot their way into the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
2005 - Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh resigns over oil-for-food scam.
2006 - Joseph Kabila is sworn in as Congo’s first democratically elected president.
2014 - Britain signs agreement to open a permanent naval base in Bahrain.
2015 - Yemen’s southern Aden province Governor Jaafar Mohammad Sa’ad is killed in a bomb blast.