Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

108 • CHUKAKU-HAthere were also eight assaults and beatings, two bombings, one actof sabotage, and one murder. The group has used mass rallies of itsgeneral membership as feints to draw police attention away fromactual targets. During one of the frequent clashes at the constructionsite of Narita airport, throngs of Chukaku-Ha members armed withMolotov cocktails rushed a police barricade and created a small riot.While police concentrated on holding back the demonstrators, theChukaku-Ha covert operations specialists burglarized the controltower of the airport, entering through underground service corridors,and smashed much of the computer equipment there.Actions included the 19 September 1984 assault on the headquartersof Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in which a truck with aflamethrower device was driven into the side of the building, guttingsix of its nine floors. Meanwhile, the same group exploded a bombnear the Israeli embassy. On 25 March 1986 group members launchedthree of their homemade rockets at the Imperial Palace and anotherthree at the U.S. embassy. On 4 May 1986 they launched five rockets atAkasaka Palace, where the economic summit of the seven major industrializedpowers was being held. The rockets flew 3.5 kilometers andlanded within 550 meters of their target. Because of the coincidence ofthis attack following the U.S. bombing raid on Libya, some observersspeculated a Libyan connection, but Chukaku-Ha had been engagedin a spree of rocket launchings that year even before that raid. On 23February 1991 the group fired rockets upon U.S. Navy housing outsideYokohama. Most of these rocket attacks have caused little damage andno harm to life or limb due to the missiles’ inaccuracy. Other attacksincluded a bombing of the UN Technology Center in Osaka on 7 July1993, which caused but minor damage. On 9 July 1993 the group firedfour rockets at the U.S. Army base at Camp Zama during the G7 Summitin Tokyo, none of which caused any apparent damage.On 15 November 1995, just a week before President Bill Clintonwas due to be in Tokyo, small bombs were discovered attached topower lines of the U.S. military base at Sagamihara, near Tokyo.One bomb exploded, causing only minor damage. While no groupclaimed responsibility, Chukaku-Ha was suspected as it had threatenedto disrupt the Asian Pacific Economic Council meeting beingheld in Osaka during 13–19 November. On 1 June 1998 Chukaku-Haclaimed responsibility for attacks on three buses in Matsudo used fortransportation to Narita airport, and on 23 January 2001 Chukaku-Ha