The mastermind behind a fatal gas attack in Japan more than a decade ago has been executed, according to media reports.
Shoko Asahara, 63, was hanged alongside six other members of the Aum Supreme Truth Cult, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. The group carried out a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in March 1995 which killed 13 people and caused over 6000 to fall ill, by some estimates.
Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto, was executed at a detention centre, according to local media citing Justice Ministry sources. He was the first of 13 former members of the cult to be condemned to death over the attack, the Guardian reports.
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The Aum Supreme Truth cult is a Japanese doomsday group founded by Asahara in 1984. It was formally designated a terrorist organisation by Russia, Canada, Kazakhstan and the US. In 2007, it split into two groups: Aleph and Hikari no Wa.
The cult once boasted over 10,000 followers in Japan and approximately 30,000 in Russia. In April 2011, the Public Security Intelligence Agency said Aum had about 1500 members.
Newshub.
