On the morning of March 20, 1995, members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas on Tokyo subway trains, killing 13 people and injuring over 5,800. The attack came as the nation was still reeling from the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe just over two months earlier. It deeply shocked Japan and the world and raised concerns over nonstate organizations obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

What was Aum Shinrikyo and who led it?

Shoko Asahara, then head of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, in 1990. | KYODO
Shoko Asahara, then head of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, in 1990. | KYODO