The Hiroshima District Court last week said that 41 plaintiffs, aged from 62 to 94, deserved to be considered survivors, which would pave the way for them to receive Japan's generous benefits for their illnesses.

The court ruled that the plaintiffs' ailments, which include cancer and cataracts, were due to the atomic bombing and said the government had been too rigid.

But the Japanese health ministry said it filed an appeal to the Hiroshima High Court to review that decision, contending the judgment was not compatible with the government's understanding of medical illnesses suffered from the bombing.

The government had refused to recognize the plaintiffs as Hiroshima bombing survivors because they did not meet official criteria. In many cases, the plaintiffs were judged not to have been close enough to the bomb's hypocenter.

"I'm very disappointed and angry. I resent it very much," a plaintiff said in a televised press conference.

"I will continue fighting so the appeal would be retracted," he said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended ceremonies this week in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the US atomic bombings which killed some 210,000 people at the end of World War II.

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