VOA常速英语2008年-Indonesia Arrests 2 Top Militants

By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
14 April 2008

Two top Islamic militants¹ are in Indonesian police custody² following their arrests in Malaysia several weeks ago. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins has more from Jakarta.

Indonesian police say they are questioning two top members of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah. Suspects Abdul Rohim and Agus Purwanto were returned to Indonesia after being arrested several weeks ago in Malaysia.

Terrorism expert Sidney Jones says Abdul Rohim is thought to have replaced Zarkasih as Jemaah Islamiyah leader (emir), after Zarkasih's arrest last year.

"He was a member of the central command, he is rumored³ to possibly be the new emir, or the caretaker emir [of Jemaah Islamiyah] ... the last known position that he had was a head of education for the central command," Jones explained.

Jones says the arrests of the two Indonesians are significant and will further weaken the terrorist network.

"This is big because it is two more influential⁴ people, with one in particular at the top ranks of Jemaah Islamiyah, meaning that the police have pretty clearly penetrated⁵ the structure," Jones said.

Police say Agus Purwanto is wanted in connection with violence in Poso, on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island, where sporadic⁶ violence between Muslims and Christians⁷ continues to break out periodically.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a string of terrorist bombings in Indonesia including the 2002 bombings in Bali that claimed the lives of 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Following the Bali attacks, police have arrested more than 300 militants, severely⁸ weakening the group.

Jones says Jemaah Islamiyah cannot keep replacing its lost leaders forever.

"Now I think what we will find is that just as the earlier round of leaders was replaced, that there will probably be some effort to put new people in place for this, but it is a process that cannot continue indefinitely," Jones said.

The group says it wants to establish an Islamic state across much of Southeast Asia.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 rumored   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• It is rumored that he cheats on his wife. 据传他对他老婆不忠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rumored that the white officer had been a Swede. 传说那个白人军官是个瑞典人。 来自辞典例句

4 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

5 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

6 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。