Thousands of Japanese people and foreign guests and activists gathered Wednesday in Hiroshima to mark the 63rd anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the southwestern Japanese city.

At a memorial ceremony held in the morning at the city's peace park, attendees observed one minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. (2315 GMT), the time the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima 63 years ago, killing nearly 100,000 people in a blink.

At the ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged that Japan will adhere to the three anti-nuclear principles and take the lead in the world for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.

According to Hiroshima city's authority, names of 5,302 victims of the bomb who died during the past year were added to the victim list in the cenotaph at the peace park, bringing the total number of the A-bomb victims recognized by the city to 258,310.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)