Terrorist groups - home based:
Aum Shinrikyo (AUM): aim(s): attract new members seeking religious outlets and a willingness to commit an increasing amount of their assets to AUM; historically, leaders were centered on taking control of the Japanese Government by means of a military coup and sparking a nuclear war between Japan and the US to create a global Armageddon, with the end goal of "cleansing" the world so its members could achieve salvation area(s) of operation: headquartered in the north in Hokkaido, where AUM opened the largest of its 33 buildings in July 2016; authorities inspect facilities and closely monitor both members and facilities under a law governing groups that have committed mass murder; has maintained a relatively non-violent presence since killing 13 people and injuring at least 6,300 on 20 March 1995, when operatives left leaking plastic bags containing liquid nerve agent Sarin (GB) inside subway trains in Tokyo for the stated purpose of creating fear and panic; at least 189 Aum members have been put on trial in Japan for their involvement in the 1995 attack, with nine receiving the death penalty; the attack's mastermind was the group's founder and current official leader, Chizuo MATSUMOTO (a.k.a. Asahara Shoko), who remains on death row; on 12 December 1994, operatives in Osaka, Japan, used nerve agent VX to poison businessman Tadahito HAMAGUCHI, a former member and suspected police informant; HAMAGUCHI died 10 days later; his autopsy was the first in the world to uncover traces of nerve agent VX; membership in Japan is estimated to be in the low hundreds; the majority of members reside in Russia