HIROSHIMA, Japan— Japan is marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Mayor Kazumi Matsui renewed his call for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step up efforts toward making a nuclear weapons free world.

More than 40,000 people attended Thursday's ceremony at Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack that killed 140,000 people. Another bombing of Nagasaki three days later killed more than 70,000, causing Japan's surrender six days later.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that as the sole country to face nuclear attack, Japan has the duty to push for nuclear weapons elimination.

The anniversary comes as Japan is divided over Abe's push to pass unpopular legislation to expand the country's military role internationally.

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 1945 file photo, an allied correspondent stands in the rubble in front of the shell of a building that once was a exhibition center and government office in Hiroshima, Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. on Aug. 6, 1945. (AP Photo/Stanley Troutman, File)

An allied correspondent stands in the rubble in front of the shell of a building that once was a exhibition center and government office on Sept. 8, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. on Aug. 6, 1945.

Photo Credit: Stanley Troutman/AP

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