Nagasaki commemorates 69th anniversary of US bombing

(

), Aug 9: Japanese city of Nagasaki on Saturday commemorated the 69th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said that nuclear weapons are a continuing danger that threaten the present and future, and his city will cooperate with the UN and other countries to continue efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons.

"The oath prescribed in the Japanese Constitution that Japan shall 'renounce war' is the founding principle for post-war Japan and Nagasaki, a country and a city which suffered the wrath of the atomic bomb," Xinhua quoted Tomihisa as saying.

To accelerate Japan's surrender in the World War II, the US forces dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Aug 6 and 9 in 1945.

On August 15, just six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war, Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Forces.

On September 2, Japan signed the instrument of surrender, ending World War II.

An estimated 74,000 people were killed in Nagasaki.

IANS