The Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks 1995 – Part 1

About this episode

This episode discusses the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attacks carried out by the Aum Shinrikyō cult.

On March 20th, 1995, the Tokyo subway system was flooded with sarin nerve gas in a coordinated terrorist attack by the religious cult Aum Shinrikyō. Led by the charismatic new-age guru, Shoko Asahara, the well-funded and technologically ambitious Aum organization manufactured and deployed chemical weapons in an attempt to bring about the end of the world. In the chaos that followed, 13 people were killed, thousands were injured, and the international community shuddered at the possibility of future attacks by fringe political groups. SOURCES: Amarasingam, A. (2017, April 5). A history of sarin as a weapon. The Atlantic. Cotton, Simon. “Nerve Agents: What Are They and How Do They Work?” American Scientist, vol. 106, no. 3, 2018, pp. 138–40. Danzig, Richard; Sageman, Marc; Leighton, Terrance; Hough, Lloyd; Yuki, Hidemi; Kotani, Rui; Hosford, Zachary M.. Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons . Center for a New American Security. 2011. Gunaratna, Rohan. “Aum Shinrikyo’s Rise, Fall and Revival.” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, vol. 10, no. 8, 2018, pp. 1–6. Harmon, Christopher C. “How Terrorist Groups End: Studies of the Twentieth…

Topics covered

• Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks
• Aum Shinrikyō
• terrorism
• chemical weapons
• Shoko Asahara

Keywords

• sarin nerve gas
• terrorist attack
• religious cult
• casualties
• international response

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Nerve Agents: What Are They, Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons, Aum Shinrikyo’s Rise, Fall and Revival, IHT: A Safe and Sure System, Policing and Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo, Aum’s Shoko Asahara and the Cult at the End of the World, Destroying the World to Save It, Aum Shinrikyo

Places: Tokyo, Amarasingam

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