Chemical Weapons

7 Pages 1630 Words

o's government area, which is close to many Ministries, and the National Police Agency (NPA) Headquarters. Some commentators began to think that the attack was targeted on NPA officers. Some commentators evidently anticipated that the Tokyo attack was a prelude to the issuing of demands by the criminal. Commentators also expressed surprise that, given the toxicity of sarin and the nature of the target, the casualty had not in fact been much higher. Others suggested that the agent may simply have been impure, perhaps deliberately diluted either self-protection of the attackers or to keep the number of fatalities low. This theory appeared confirmed by the discovery early on the traces of another substance, acetonitrile (or methyl cyanide), which it could have been used to dilute the gas. Some Unexplained Incidents: In the days following the subway attack, as the casualty toll continued to rise, the Amu Shinri Kyo (or "Supreme Truth"), whose leader- Shoko Asahara, had in the past shown an interested in chemical and biological wa...