VOA常速英语2007-US Military Says 6 Terrorists Killed in Iraq

By Jim Randle
Irbil, Iraq
06 October 2007

The U.S. military says coalition¹ forces have killed six more terrorists in Iraq.  They also deny that an air attack on Friday hit innocent civilians². VOA's Jim Randle reports from northern Iraq.

In an e-mailed message to journalists, military officials said four of the militants³ were hit by an operation targeting an associate of al-Qaida in Iraq, south of Baghdad.

Two others died in a separate raid near Samarra, northwest of Baghdad.

Nine suspects were captured in these raids, and 21 more were detained in other actions across the country. 

The U.S. military also denied reports that 25 people who died in a U.S. military operation on Friday were innocent civilians.

The operation took place near Baquba, northeast of the capital.

The military says it has confirmed the dead were members of an extremist group accused of smuggling⁴ weapons from Iran.

Some Iraqi authorities and local villagers have said civilians were among the dead.

In the meantime, Iraq's National Security Adviser⁵ Mowaffak al-Rubaie strongly denounced the idea of launching an attack on neighboring Iran from Iraqi soil.  The Arabic language interview, recorded on Friday, was aired on Iraqi television Saturday.

He also asked Iraq's neighbors, presumably Iran, to stop supporting militia⁶ groups inside Iraq.

In a separate newspaper interview published in the Washington Post, Rubaie said Iran has significantly increased its involvement in Iraq, supplying more sophisticated weaponry to groups that attack U.S. forces.

He said Iraqi forces are catching⁷ only a small number of the Iranian agents and arms shipments flowing into Iraq.

Iran has denied meddling⁸ in Iraq's affairs, and Washington has said it is pursuing a diplomatic course to resolve its differences with Iran.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 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。

3 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。

4 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 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。

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

8 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句