Sixty years to the day after his city was levelled by an atomic bomb, the mayor of Nagasaki today made a direct appeal to Americans to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Iccho Ito, who was born just two weeks after a US B-29 bomber dropped a 4.5-tonne atomic device on the southern port city, told a ceremony in Nagasaki's Memorial Peace Park: "To the citizens of America: we understand your anger and anxiety over the memories of horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Yet, is your security actually enhanced by your government’s policies of maintaining 10,000 nuclear weapons, of carrying out repeated sub-critical nuclear tests, and of pursuing the development of new ’mini’ nuclear weapons?

"We are confident that the vast majority of you desire in your hearts the elimination of nuclear arms. May you join hands with the people of the world who share that same desire, and work together for a peaceful planet free from nuclear weapons."

The Fat Man bomb - named after Winston Churchill - was dropped on Nagasaki at 11.02am on August 9, 1945, killing 74,000 people. It came three days after the first ever nuclear attack, on Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people.

Six days later the Second World War was over. Nuclear weapons have never been used since.

Richard Lloyd Parry, Times Correspondent in Japan, was at the Nagasaki Peace Park this morning when 6,000 people, including Junichiro Koizumi, observed a minute of silent prayer exactly 60 years after the bomb fell.

Lloyd Parry said Mr Ito's annual 'peace declaration' was "unusually outspoken and indignant" and reflected frustration in both Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the lack of progress in nuclear non-proliferation negotiations. The mayors of the two cities headed delegations to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York in May.

"Talking to people afterwards, many agreed with what he said," Lloyd Parry said. "There was a sense of impatience - much more than normal - about the complete lack of progress at the non-proliferation conference."

Survivors, many unable to contain their emotion, broke down in tears and clung to each other, during this morning's ceremony. A further 2,788 names were added this year to the roll of those considered to have been victims of the Nagasaki bomb - now totalling 137,339 names.

Fewer than 50,000 surivivors of the bomb - average age 73 - are still alive.

Among those who spoke at the ceremony was Fumie Sakamoto, a 74-year-old woman injured in the attack. She said: "I don’t want anyone to suffer the same pain. I swear in the presence of the souls of the victims of the atomic bombing to continue tirelessly to demand that Nagasaki be the last A-bomb site as long as I live. This promise is my pledge for peace."

In an emotional testimony, Ms Sakamoto spoke of the "long, difficult path" she had travelled over the past 60 years. "I remember people whose chests burst open, and I could see their hearts pumping right in front of me. There were people who were so badly burned I couldn’t tell which side was which," she said.

Mr Koizumi, who flew to Nagasaki despite a political crisis in Tokyo where he has called a snap general election, said: "I give all my heart to the victims. Japan will make an effort to keep world peace and maintain the three non-nuclear principles and a peaceful constitution."

He was referring to Japan’s 1967 commitment not to produce, possess or allow the entry into its territory of nuclear weapons.

Today's ceremonies began just after sunrise when hundreds of Catholics joined in a special Mass at Urakami Cathedral, which at the time of the bombing was the largest in Asia with 12,000 parishioners - 8,500 of whom are believed to have been killed.

When the cloudy sky lit up in a sudden flash at 11.02am local time, two priests were hearing confessions inside the cathedral and 30 faithful were inside. Everyone in the church died and the statues around them turned black in the intense heat.

Ironically, Nagasaki was not a primary target. Three days after the Enola Gay dropped the 'Little Boy' bomb on Hiroshima, the plane dubbed Bock's Car took off to deliver the second A-bomb to the nearby city of Kokura.

But Kokura was hidden under thick smoke. The plane circled three times, then changed course for Nagasaki, where it also encountered thick clouds. With dwindling fuel, the pilot nearly turned around - but then the clouds broke.

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