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62———Ayyash, Yahya (1966–1996)

and accusations of religious discrimination. But in
mid-March 1995, Aum received word that the National AYYASH, YAHYA (1966–1996)
Police planned to raid the cult’s compound. On March aka the Engineer
20, five cult members distributed sarin on five separate
subway lines bound for the Kasumigaseki station,
Tokyo’s busiest; 12 people were killed and thousands Palestinian Yahya Ayyash, a notorious Hamas com-
injured. mander, is said to have been as greatly loved by
Following the attacks, hundreds of cult members Palestinians as he was hated by Israelis. Ayyash
were arrested; Aum orchestrated several more terror- achieved a near-mythical status as a man who always
ist attacks in response to the arrests. Shoko Asahara escaped detection by Israel’s intelligence service. He
and the architects of the subway attack have been put is said to have masterminded multiple suicide attacks
on trial for the murders. Several have already been in Israel that killed nearly 70 civilians and injured
condemned to death, while other lesser figures have more than 300. Ayyash was assassinated on January 5,
-
been sentenced to prison. The Aum Shinrikyo religion 1996, by a booby-trapped cellular phone allegedly
persists, despite numerous crackdowns and the planted by Shin Bet, Israel’s security service. Nearly
seizure of its assets by the Japanese government. 100,000 people, about 11 percent of Gaza’s popula-
Though its major beliefs remain unchanged, the cult tion, marched at Ayyash’s funeral. Palestinian leader
has renamed itself Aleph, or “The Beginning.” Its new Yasir Arafat gave him a 21-gun salute.
leaders disavow its criminal past and insist it does not The son of a farmer, Ayyash was born in Rafat, a
pose a threat to society, yet continue to regard the village in the West Bank highlands. He studied elec-
jailed Asahara as it spiritual leader and look to his trical engineering and chemistry at the Bir Zeit
teenage daughter Rika as his successor. In recent University in Ramallah, Saudi Arabia. In the first
years, it has seen its membership rise significantly, large attack allegedly planned by Ayyash, in 1994 a
and it has once again attained financial prosperity. Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up near a bus in
Afula, Israel, killing eight people. Five more attacks
See also SHOKO ASAHARA; BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM; followed, but Ayyash continued to escape detection
CHEMICAL TERRORISM; TOKYO SUBWAY SARIN ATTACK for more than three years. Linked to 11 suicide bomb-
ings, he became known as “the Engineer” for his skill
Further Reading in building bombs and planning attacks. Press
-
Ballard, Tim, et al. “Chronology of Aum Shinrikyo’s CBW accounts before his assassination reported that he
Activities.” Center for Nonproliferation Studies Web earned the name “the man with seven souls” in the
Report. http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/aum_chrn.htm. Palestinian territories after escaping death many
Last updated March 15, 2001. times. He is even said to have posed as a Jewish set-
Kaplan, David E., and Andrew Marshall. The Cult at the tler in Israeli territory while escaping from Nablus in
End of the World: The Incredible Story of Aum. London: the West Bank to Gaza.
Hutchinson, 1996. In late December 1995, Hamas promised Arafat
Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the World to Save It: Aum
- and the Palestinian Authority that it would cease mil-
Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global itary operations. At that time, Ayyash was staying in
Terrorism. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.
- Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip with Osama Hamad, an
Olson, K. B. “Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?”
Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 5, No. 4, July/August old friend and college roommate. Press accounts of
1999, 42-47. Ayyash’s murder indicate that Hamad worked for
Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: his uncle Kamal Hamad, a contractor and suspected
-
The Case of Aum Shinrikyo. Nordic Institute of Asian Shin Bet informer with close ties to the former
Studies Monograph Series No. 82. Richmond, Surrey, Israeli military government. Kamal Hamad had lent
UK: Curzon, 2000. his nephew a mobile phone months before the attack,
saying that he wanted to be able to reach him easily.
On January 4, 1996, Kamal Hamad asked for the
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia. phone, when he returned it, he asked his nephew

See UNITED SELF-DEFENSE FORCES OF to leave the phone turned on at all times. The next
COLOMBIA. morning around 9:00, Ayyash’s father called his
son—first on the house’s standard phone line and