Holy Terror

In March 1995, a Japanese terrorist sect, Aum Shinri Kyo (Aum Supreme Truth), which had governmentally sanctioned religious status, carried out a poison gas attack in Tokyo's subway system using odorless sarin, a lethal nerve gas that the sect's chemists produced; the attack left 11 dead and more than 5000 severely injured. This chilling report makes stunningly clear that small terrorist groups are capable of unleashing chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction against defenseless populations. Brackett, formerly a UPI correspondent in Tokyo, a Knight-Ridder Tokyo bureau chief and a U.S. Air Force counterterrorism expert, tells how an Aum death squad murdered a lawyer and his family in 1989 because he was prosecuting the cult. Aum commune members who wanted to quit were given lethal punishments, including execution by microwave radiation, by this account. The sect had extensive connections with former Soviet weapon scientists and leased a ranch in Australia where it mined uranium. Brackett also charges the group with mind control and widespread use of LSD and other drugs. Semi-blind Aum leader Shoko Asahara and other members are standing trial in proceedings expected to last two years. (June)