On this day in 1995, at the height of morning rush hour, terrorists from the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult converge at the Kasumigaseki subway station in Tokyo and release lethal sarin gas into the air. The terrorists then take a sarin antidote and escape while the commuters, blinded and gasping for air, rush to the exits. Twelve people die, and over 5,000 are treated in hospitals, many in a comatose state.
In the attack's aftermath, Japanese police raided Aum Shinrikyo headquarters and arrested hundreds of members, including the cult's leader, Master Shoko Asahara. The cult, which combined Buddhism and yoga with apocalyptic Christian philosophy, was already under investigation for a 1994 sarin attack that killed seven people, and for the murder of several political opponents.
