Hard X-ray emission from IC443: evidence for a shocked molecular clump?

We report BeppoSAX observations of spatially resolved hard X-ray emission from IC 443, a supernova remnant interacting with a molecular cloud. The emission is shown to come from two localized features spatially correlated with bright molecular emission regions. Both hard X-ray features have soft X-ray counterparts, in one case shifted by 20 toward the remnant interior. The spectra of X-ray emission from both isolated features have photon index < 2 in the MECS regime. The emission detected from the remnant with PDS detector extends up to 100 keV. We discuss the observed properties of the hard X-ray features in relation to non-thermal emission from shocked molecular clumps and pulsar wind nebula.