VOA标准英语2009-Police Chief Killed as Clashes Continue in S

The police chief in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has been killed as fighting continues to wrack¹ the city. At least seven others were killed in clashes between Islamist insurgents² and pro-government forces in the south of the city.
　
A Somali man carries a boy wounded during mortar³ shelling, 17 Jun 2009, in Mogadishu

Fighting returned to Mogadishu a day after clashes in the north of the capital killed at least six people, Islamist insurgents traded mortar and machine-gun fire with government soldiers and allied⁴ militia⁵ members in the city's south.

Mogadishu Police Chief Ali Said Hassan and a number of civilians⁶ were reported killed.

A spokesman for the Somali military said government soldiers responded after insurgents attacked government bases. But a spokesman for the Hizbul Islam militia, Muse⁷ Abdi Arale, said the government attacked first. He said pro-government forces and African Union peacekeepers attacked his militia's bases. He claimed AU peacekeepers fired mortars⁸ and heavy artillery⁹, killing¹⁰ civilians.

More than 250 people have been killed since insurgents launched an offensive in the capital early last month, and the United Nations says 22,000 have been displaced.

The insurgents, including the al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam militias¹¹, say the internationally-backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is not committed to an Islamist state, despite its efforts to introduce Islamic law in the country. The insurgents also say the government is too close to Ethiopia and the United States.

The government has control over only a limited area of the capital. With the help of 4,300 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi, the government still controls the main port and airport. The government has accused Eritrea of arming the insurgents, which include a number of foreign fighters, and the African Union has called for sanctions to be imposed on Eritrea.

The struggle between insurgents and pro-government forces continues to disrupt aid efforts southern and central Somalia.

The aid agency Doctors Without Borders says it is ending its operations in the Bakool region of central Somalia due to security concerns. Two of its staff members were abducted¹² in the region in April. They were released, but the group's Coordinator¹³ of Operations for Somalia, David Michalski says the security threat in the area remains¹⁴ too high.

"They were held for 10 days and released. We still do not know who the perpetrators were or what their motivations were and this of course causes us some unease," he said. "We are willing to take risks as an organization, but we feel that it has stepped above the threshold of acceptable risk."

This is the fourth project Doctors Without Borders has had to close in Somalia in the past 14 months.

Meanwhile, the U.N. children's agency says al-Shabab continues to occupy the UNICEF compound in Jowhar, preventing the distribution of aid to women and children in the area.

1 wrack   

v.折磨；n.海草

参考例句：

• Periodic crises wrack the capitalist system,and they grow in size and duration.周期性的危机破坏着资本主义制度，这种危机的规模在扩大，时间在延长。
• The wrack had begun to stink as it rotted in the sun.海草残骸在阳光下腐烂，开始变臭了。

2 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

3 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

4 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

8 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

9 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

12 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

13 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。