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Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 74th anniversary of first atomic bomb in warfare

On August 6, 2019, Japan commemorates the 74th anniversary of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6, 1945, the US Air Force’s Enola Gay B-29 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, exploding with the energy equivalent of between 13,000 and 18,000 tonnes of TNT. Three days later, the US also bombed Nagasaki. In total, between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima and between 60,000 and 80,000 in Nagasaki. The bombings were justified as a way to accelerate the capitulation of Imperial Japan. These attacks are the sole instance of nuclear weapons ever being used in a military conflict in the history of humanity. The US still rejects bearing any moral responsibility for the attacks, saying that the bombings were a military necessity. TASS recalls the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.