In five co-ordinated attacks members of the cult movement Aum Shinrikyo released sarin on three lines of the Tokyo Metro (then Teito Rapid Transit Authority) during rush hour on this day in 1995, killing 13 people, severely injuring 50 (some of whom later died), and causing temporary vision problems for nearly 1,000 others.

Known as the ‘Subway Sarin Incident’ and deemed an act of domestic terrorism, the attack was directed against trains passing through Kasumigaseki and Nagatachō, where the Diet (Japanese Parliament) is headquartered in Tokyo.

The group, led by Shoko Asahara, had already carried out several assassinations and terrorist attacks using sarin, including the Matsumoto sarin attack nine months earlier. They had also produced several other nerve agents, including VX, and attempted to produce botulinum toxin and had perpetrated several failed acts of bioterrorism. Asahara had been made aware of a police raid scheduled for March 22 and had planned the Tokyo subway attack in order to hinder police investigations into the cult and perhaps spark the apocalypse they believed in. The leader also wanted to start a Third World War.

In the raid following the attack, police arrested many senior members of the cult. Police activity continued throughout the summer, and over 200 members were arrested, including Asahara. Thirteen of the senior Aum management, including Asahara himself, were sentenced to death and later executed; many others were given prison sentences up to life. The attack remains the deadliest terrorist incident in Japan as defined by modern standards.

Aum Shinrikyo was founded in 1984 as a yoga and meditation class, initially known as Oumu Shinsen no Kai (Aum Divine Beings’ Society), by pharmacist Chizuo Matsumoto. The group believed in a doctrine revolving around a syncretic mixture of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Christian and Hindu beliefs, especially relating to the Hindu god Shiva. They believed Armageddon to be inevitable in the form of a global war involving the United States and Japan; that non-members were doomed to eternal hell, but could be saved if killed by cult members; and that only members of the cult would survive the apocalypse, and would afterwards build the Kingdom of Shambhala. In 1987, the group rebranded and established a New York branch; the following year, it opened a headquarters in Fujinomiya. Around this time, the mental health of Matsumoto (now going by the name Shoko Asahara) deteriorated – he developed a health anxiety and expressed suicidal views.

-ENCL/Wikipedia

Photo Caption – Emergency personnel respond to the Tokyo subway sarin attack -Wikipedia