 |
Intelligence Community Case Method Program |
 |
Home | About Us | About the Case Method | ICCMP Services | Search Site |
|
Intelligence Community Case Method Program |
|
Home | About Us | About the Case Method | ICCMP Services | Search Site |
We were suddenly told to get off the train at Kodenmacho station. At first, [subway officials] said there was an explosion at the station ahead. While we were waiting on the platform, three people collapsed. I went up to the sidewalk. There were people vomitting and falling down on the steps. Many were crying and calling out for help. My head started aching and my vision narrowed.
- Tokyo salesman Hideaki Kumahashi, age 31
Between 0756 and 0812 hours local time on Monday, 20 March 1995, members of a Japanese cult known as Aum Shinrikyo released sarin, a deadly nerve gas, nearly simultaneously at points along three subway lines in the Tokyo subway system. Fifteen stations were contaminated, and within minutes, thousands of commuters were injured badly enough to seek emergency medical treatment. Six people were killed outright, and over the next few weeks the death toll reached 12. The cult, the core doctrine of which appeared to be derived from an obscure blend of doomsday prophecy, Tibetan Buddhist mysticism, and science fiction, had crossed a terrorist threshold: the use of chemical weapons on a mass target as an instrument of terror.