A memorial service has been held to mark 70 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The United States targeted the Japanese city near the end of the Second World War - killing 140-thousand people.

Speaking at the service, the country's prime minister Shinzo Abe said he wanted to use the anniversary for good.

The B-29 Superfortress plane carrying 12 crew members dropped the first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th in 1945.

Three days after Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered.

The bombing hastened the end of the second world war but whether or not the United States should have used the atomic bomb is still being debated today.