Japan marks the 71st anniversary of US atomic bombing of Hiroshima today

Japan marked the 71st anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima today as its Mayor urged world leaders to follow in US President Barack Obama's footsteps and visit, and ultimately rid the world of nuclear arms. 

A peace bell tolled the time a US warplane dropped the bomb. About 50,000 participants including aging survivors and dignitaries held a moment of silence at a memorial ceremony in the western Japanese city. 

The United States



dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on August, 6th, 1945, killing thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. At the ceremony, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged his determination to work toward a world free of nuclear arms.

Obama this year became the first incumbent US President to visit Hiroshima, and he urged nuclear powers, including his own, to have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.