Naxalite–Maoist insurgency: Insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) ambushed a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Dantewada district, India, killing 76 officers.
An earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more than 66,000 homeless.
The aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down in Kigali; the event became the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide.