TOKYO, May 25 : Survivors of the American nuclear bombing of Hiroshima will be present when US President Barack Obama lays a wreath at ground zero this week, reports said on Wednesday.
Former United States prisoners of war captured by the Japanese will also attend the event, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, with US officials hoping their presence will remove any impression it is an apology.
Obama will offer a floral tribute and make comments in front of a cenotaph for atomic bomb victims on Friday, becoming the first sitting US president to visit the city.
Earlier this week, he told Japanese television he will not say sorry for the bombing.
American airmen launched the world's first atomic strike when they bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, causing the deaths of about 140,000 people.     ?AFP