Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese new religious movement and doomsday cult, carried out multiple fatal chemical terrorist attacks, attempted bioterrorist attacks, and showed preliminary interest in nuclear terrorism during the 1990s.

Aum's chemical attacks remain the most significant by a violent non-state actor (VNSA). The 1994 Matsumoto sarin attack and 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack were the first lethal non-state actor attacks to use nerve agents, and the group also carried out the first known attacks using VX in 1994 assassination attempts.

Aum also operated the most extensive biological weapons program by a VNSA ever discovered. Aum considered a range of agents, but only seriously attempted to obtain and disperse Bacillus anthracis and botulinum toxin, the causative agents of anthrax and botulism. With the 2001 anthrax attacks, it comprises the only attempts to use anthrax as a weapon not attributed to a state program.

Aum Shinrikyo member Kiyohide Hayakawa expressed interest in acquiring or purchasing nuclear weapons from the post-Soviet states, and received multiple sale offers as low as .

Chemical weapons

Matsumoto sarin attack

VX assassination attempts In December 1994 and January 1995, Aum Shinrikyo member Masami Tsuchiya synthesized 100 to 200 grams of VX which was used to attack three people. On 2 December, Noboru Mizuno, who was believed to have assisted former members of Aum, was attacked with syringes containing VX gas, leaving him in a serious condition. Tadahito Hamaguchi, whom Asahara suspected was a spy, was attacked at 7:00 a.m. on 12 December 1994 on the street in Osaka by Tomomitsu Niimi and another Aum member, who sprinkled the nerve agent on his neck. He chased them for about before collapsing, dying 10 days later without coming out of a deep coma. Doctors in the hospital suspected at the time he had been poisoned with an organophosphate pesticide, the cause of death pinned down only after cult members arrested for the subway attack in Tokyo in March 1995 confessed to the killing. Ethyl methylphosphonate, methylphosphonic acid, and diisopropyl-2-(methylthio) ethylamine were later found in the body of the victim; unlike the cases for sarin (Matsumoto incident and Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway), VX was not used for mass murder.

On 4 January 1995, the cult tried to kill Hiroyuki Nagaoka, an important member of the Aum Victims' Society, a civil organization that protested against the sect's activities, in the same way. In February 1995, several cult members kidnapped Kiyoshi Kariya, the 69-year-old brother of an escaped former member, from a Tokyo street and took him to a compound in Kamikuishiki near Mount Fuji, where he was killed. His corpse was destroyed in a microwave-powered incinerator and the remnants disposed of in Lake Kawaguchi. Before Kariya was abducted, he had been receiving threatening phone calls demanding to know the whereabouts of his sister, and he had left a note saying, "If I disappear, I was abducted by Aum Shinrikyo".

Tokyo subway sarin attack

+Confirmed chemical attacks executed by Aum ShinrikyoDateAgentLocationFatalitiesInjuriesCommentsLate 1993-early 1994SarinTokyo00Two failed attempts to assassinate Daisaku Ikeda, leader of Soka Gakkai.9 May 1994SarinTokyo01Attempted assassination of Taro Takimoto, an attorney working on behalf of victims of the group – Takimoto was hospitalized but made a full recovery.27 June 1994SarinMatsumoto8500Matsumoto sarin attack20 September 1994PhosgeneYokohama01Attempted assassination of Shoko Egawa, a journalist who had covered the 1989 disappearance of Tsutsumi Sakamoto.Late 1994VXVarious0–20unknownVX was allegedly used to assassinate up to 20 dissident Aum members.28 November and 2 December 1994VXTokyo01Two attempts to murder a man assisting dissident Aum members, man hospitalized for 45 days.12 December 1994VXOsaka10Posing as joggers, Aum members sprayed Tadahito Hamaguchi, a man who the cult believed was spying on them, with VX from a syringe. He was pronounced dead four days later.4 January 1995VXTokyo01Attempted assassination of Hiroyuki Nagaoka, head of the 'Aum Shinrikyo Victim's Group' – Nagaoka was hospitalized for several weeks.February 1995VXTokyo00Attempted assassination of Ryuho Okawa, leader of the Institute for Research into Human Happiness, who had criticized the group – Okawa suffered no ill effects.20 March 1995SarinTokyo141,000Tokyo subway sarin attack5 May 1995Hydrogen cyanideTokyo04Two vinyl bags – one containing sulfuric acid and the other containing sodium cyanide – were found, on fire, in the toilet of a subway station. Four injuries.

Biological weapons

Aum Shinrikyo operated the most extensive biological weapons program by a non-state actor ever discovered. Aum considered a range of agents, but only seriously attempted to obtain and disperse Bacillus anthracis and botulinum toxin, the causative agents of anthrax and botulism. With the 2001 anthrax attacks, it comprises the only attempts to use anthrax as a weapon not attributed to a state program.

In July 1993, cult members sprayed large amounts of liquid containing Bacillus anthracis spores from a cooling tower on the roof of Aum Shinrikyo's Tokyo headquarters. However, their plan to cause an anthrax epidemic failed, likely because they used a vaccine strain of Bacillus anthracis that is generally regarded as nonpathogenic. The attack resulted in a large number of complaints about bad odors but no infections.

Nuclear weapons According to Japanese police and US Senate reports, Aum Shinrikyo member Kiyohide Hayakawa expressed interest in acquiring or purchasing nuclear weapons from the post-Soviet states, and received multiple sale offers as low as .

See also

Islamic State and weapons of mass destruction

References