Cult Member Details ‘Practice’ Gas Attack

In a damaging admission for the cult accused in last year’s Tokyo subway gas attack, a senior cult member testified Tuesday that he joined a similar assault in a small city in central Japan in 1994.

Tomomasa Nakagawa said Shoko Asahara, leader of the apocalyptic Aum Shinri Kyo cult, ordered him to release the nerve gas sarin in a quiet neighborhood in Matsumoto, 125 miles northwest of Tokyo.

Seven people died in the June 1994 assault, and more than 140 were injured.

Nakagawa said the attack in Matsumoto served as a trial run for the March 20 sarin attack on Tokyo subways, which killed 12 people and sickened 5,500 others.

To date, more than 150 cult members have been arrested on charges ranging from murder to bicycle theft.