Hiroshima marks 74th anniversary of WWII atomic bombing

An uranium atomic bomb named 'Little Boy' was dropped by a US bomber on August 6, 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima. The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9.

Hiroshima:Japan on Tuesday marked the 74th anniversary of its atomic bombing in Hiroshima by the US at the end of World War II in 1945, with the city's mayor urging the government to join a UN treaty banning the nuclear weapon.

On August 6, 1945, a uranium atomic bomb named 'Little Boy' was dropped by a US bomber which exploded in Hiroshima killing an estimated 140,000 people.

The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, following which Japan surrendered six days later, prompting the end of the World War II.

"I call on the government of the only country to experience a nuclear weapon in war to accede to the hibakusha's request that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons be signed and ratified," Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in his speech, referring to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was passed on July 2017 with the support of 122 nations.

The treaty is not yet in force since it has not been ratified by the required 50 states.

"I urge Japan's leaders to manifest the pacifism of the Japanese Constitution by displaying leadership in taking the next step toward a world free from nuclear weapons."

The Mayor spoke at the annual ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park near Ground Zero which was attended by representatives from about 90 countries including the US, Russia and Britain.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan will serve tenaciously as a "mediator between nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states" and "take the lead in making such efforts" in the international community.

This year's anniversary came after the US on August 2 formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a major Cold War-era nuclear arms control pact with Russia signed in 1987, raising fears of a new arms race.