Past mass killings in Japan

This aerial view shows Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Police investigators check at Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this March 20, 1995 file photo, subway passengers affected by sarin nerve gas in the central Tokyo subway trains are carried into St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo. Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo dispersed sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains and killed 13 people. (AP Photo/Chikumo Chiaki, File) (The Associated Press)

TOKYO – A former employee killed 19 people at a home for the mentally disabled early Tuesday morning in Sagamihara, a city 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tokyo. Mass killings are relatively rare in Japan, but they have happened before:

March 20, 1995: Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo disperses sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains, killing 13.

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June 8, 2001: A man kills eight children and injures 13 others and two teachers in a knife attack at an elementary school in the city of Osaka. The incident shocks Japan and leads to increased security at schools.

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June 8, 2008: Seven people are killed by a man who slams a truck into a crowd in central Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district and then get out and starts stabbing people.

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July 26, 2016: Nineteen people have been confirmed dead in the knife attack on a home for the disabled outside Tokyo. It is the deadliest mass killing in Japan in decades.