Prayers Held as Hiroshima Marks 70 Years Since Bomb

Japanese city marks the 70th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing that killed 140,000 people in 1945.Bells tolled and thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Hiroshima at ceremonies in the Japanese city marking the 70th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing.

On Thursday at 8:15am (23:15 GMT, Wednesday), the exact time when the bomb, dropped by the US B-29 aircraft, the Enola Gay, exploded on August 6, 1945, the crowd stood for a moment of silence.
In the heavy summer heat, cicadas shrilled, the Peace Bell rang and hundreds of doves were released into the sky.

Many of those gathered for the ceremony renewed their calls for peace, while survivors recalled agonising memories that continue to haunt them 70 years on.
Eighty-nine-year-old Keigo Miyagawa spoke to Al Jazeera of the terror and the trauma his 19-year-old self went through.
"It felt like lightning. I saw this strong flash, and it was followed by this sound, and it swept me off my feet. I lost consciousness," he recalled. "When I woke up ... I was injured and bleeding."
For the last five decades, Miyagawa has been committing images imprisoned in his mind to canvas.

The Hiroshima bombing, which killed 140,000 by the end of the year, was followed three days later by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, which killed about 40,000 instantly. The war ended on August 15.
Al Jazeera has drawn a timeline of the events from the day German chemist Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission, through to the day the Nobel prize winner saw his discovery used to instigate the attack.