50,000 people attend the 71st anniversary memorial service for the Hiroshima disaster

Japan today held a ceremony to mark the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and called on the world to abandon nuclear weapons.

Pigeons fly over the graves of victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 71 years ago. Photo: AP

About 50,000 people attended the memorial service at Peace Park in Hiroshima city, near the area bombed more than seven decades ago, according to AP.

Besides recalling the horrific memories of the past to remind today's generation of the dangers of nuclear weapons, the Japanese government also called on world leaders to follow US President Barack Obama's lead in visiting Hiroshima.

Citing a passage from Mr Obama's speech when he visited Hiroshima in May, Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged nuclear-armed nations to "have the courage to escape the logic of fear and move towards a world without nuclear weapons".

"We need to inspire policymakers to strengthen this spirit and create a security mechanism based on trust and dialogue," he stressed. "Once again, I call on world leaders to visit the cities that were bombed by atomic bombs."

Such visits, he said, would help "imprint on their minds the devastating reality of the atomic bombings."

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people. Three days later, another bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 people.

According to VNE