The western Japanese city of Hiroshima on Sunday marked the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing in World War II, with Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba calling on all nations to abolish nuclear weapons.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m. (2315 GMT Saturday), exactly the same time when the U.S. air force dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," on the city 61 years ago, killing about 78,000 people instantly, and an estimated 140,000 people in total by the end of 1945.

The ceremony drew some 45,000 people.

In a Peace Declaration read at the memorial service, Mayor Akiba called on the Japanese government to support the livelihoods of atomic bomb survivors .

A total of 259,556 atomic bomb survivors were living in and outside of Japan as of March 31, with their average age at 73.9.

In the first half of the 20th Century, the Japanese militarists launched wars of aggression against China and other Asian countries. The war of aggression against China inflicted an unparalleled disaster on the Chinese people, resulting in some 35 million Chinese casualties.

On Aug. 6, towards the end of World War II, a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On Aug. 9, a second one was dropped on Nagasaki.

Japan surrendered six days later.

Source: Xinhua