VOA常速英语2007年-Suicide Bomber Kills 6 in Northern Iraq

By Deborah Block
Irbil, Iraq
15 November 2007

A suicide bomber¹ rammed² his car into a police patrol Thursday in northern Iraq, killing³ six people and wounding more than 20 others. Despite the violence in Iraq, a U.S. military official says the number of attacks and casualties due to roadside bombs is at its lowest level in two years. Deborah Block has more from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

The car bomb exploded in the city of Kirkuk north of Baghdad. The target was a six-car convoy⁴ carrying a senior Kurdish police officer, Khattab Omar, who heads the quick response force. He survived, but other officers did not. Many of the wounded are children who were walking to a nearby school. Kirkuk policeman Tahir Salah-Eddin.

He says a suicide bomber detonated his car next to Kirkuk police department vehicles, killing three policemen and wounding civilians⁵.

The U.S.military on Thursday announced that an American soldier was killed a day earlier in an explosion in Diyala province. Four more soldiers were wounded in the blast.

In Baghdad, U.S. Major General James Simmons said the number of attacks from roadside bombs is at its lowest in two years.

Compared to the more than 3,200 incidents last March, some 1,500 roadside bombs either exploded or were found in October. Simmons says this is because of tips about weapons caches from Iraqi citizens and also Iran's commitment to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Iraq.

"We have found weapons that we believe are associated with Iran, in some of the caches we've picked up. But most appear to have been in Iraq for months. We have not seen any recent evidence that weapons continue to come across the border into Iraq," he said.

Iranian officials have denied smuggling⁶ weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq and, last August, promised Iraqi officials they would work to stem the flow of weapons.

U.S. authorities say a deadly roadside bomb they believe comes from Iran has often been used by Shiite militants⁷.

They also say that kind of bomb was used Wednesday against an American military vehicle near the entrance of the Green Zone in Baghdad. One American soldier and two Iraqi civilians were killed in the blast. It is the first major attack against a U.S. military vehicle in that area over the past few months.

1 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

2 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。