A man who was involved in the bombing of an Air India plane eighteen years ago has been jailed for five years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges.

Inderjit Singh Reyjav, a Sikh, admitted acquiring materials to make the bomb which killed all 329 people on board the flight from Montreal to New Delhi. Two other Sikh men are awaiting trial on more serious charges of murder and conspiracy.

Reyjav's apparently light sentence was handed down by a Canadian court after it heard that his role in the attack was relatively minor. He had originally faced a charge of murder.

The Air India flight blew up over the Atlantic in June 1985 and investigators believe the attack was carried out in revenge for an attack by India on the Sikh's sacred Golden Temple at Amritsar.

The explosion was preceded by a bombing attempt on an Air India plane at Tokyo's Narita Airport. An hour earlier two baggage handlers at the airport died when a bomb in a bag, which was intended for an Air India flight, exploded on the ground.

Reyjav, 51, who holds both UK and Canadian passports, served a ten-year prison sentence in Britain for his part in the Tokyo incident.