Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing

Japan is marking the 70th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which led to the end of World War II. Tens of thousands of people observed a minute of silence Thursday as bells tolled at the Peace Memorial Park, near the epicenter of the bombing. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called […]

Japan is marking the 70th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which led to the end of World War II.
Tens of thousands of people observed a minute of silence Thursday as bells tolled at the Peace Memorial Park, near the epicenter of the bombing. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called for a renewed effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons, which he called “pure evil.”
“In order for us to live together, we need to end the use of all nuclear weapons, the ultimate in inhumane, pure evil,” Matsui said. “And the moment to get this done is now.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan, as the only country ever to be attacked by an atomic bomb, has a unique responsibility to create a world without nuclear weapons.
The Hiroshima bombing killed around 140,000 people, either instantly or from radiation burns in the immediate aftermath. Another bomb was dropped on the port city of Nagasaki three days later, killing an estimated 70,000 residents.