VOA常速英语2008年-Bodies of Several Clerics Found In, Around Soma

By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
21 April 2008

At least nine people have been found dead at a mosque¹ in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Residents say the victims, a number of them clerics from the mosque, were killed by Ethiopian troops during a weekend of heavy fighting with insurgent² groups. Derek Kilner has more from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi.

Several of those killed are religious leaders from a major Sufi Islamic sect³. According to Ali Hersi, who says he witnessed the event, the mosque's imam, Saed Yayhe, who is also the sect's leader in Somalia, was among the dead.

Hersi says Ethiopian troops rounded up at least 20 people from the mosque and surrounding areas, and killed them in the mosque's parking lot.

"People were collected from their homes and they were killed deliberately," Hersi said. "They were not fighting. Most of them were elders."

He says the troops also arrested more than 30 people around the mosque, including 12 Koranic students.

A spokesman for Ethiopia's Ministry⁴ of Information, Zemedkun Tekle dismissed charges of Ethiopian involvement in the killings⁵ . He told VOA such claims are "pure allegations aimed at damaging the image of Ethiopian troops and getting them to leave Somalia."

Residents of Mogadishu have been assessing the aftermath of a weekend of fighting between Ethiopian troops backing the transitional government and Islamist-led insurgents⁶. New bodies were still being found Monday. Some estimates of the number of people killed in the clashes are as high as 100.

A Mogadishu resident who declined to be named, says the fighting began after Ethiopian troops entered an area in the north of the city seen as an insurgent stronghold.

"After fighting for a few hours, the Ethiopians began to shell the areas," he said. "Heavy shelling has occurred which has not been seen for the past few months. Shelling with mortars⁷, tank shells, and also Katyusha rockets."

Somalia's prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, said the Ethiopian troops were defending themselves after being attacked by insurgents.

With many residents afraid to recover the bodies of those killed, the number of casualties is difficult to assess. The local Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization says 81 people were killed Saturday and Sunday.

From the Eritrean capital Asmara, Zakaria Haji-Abdi, deputy chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, a moderate Islamic insurgent group, said the figure was higher.

"The Ethiopian tanks and artillery⁸ are inside the capital city of Somalia and are shelling indiscriminately the Somali people," Haji-Abdi said. " Only yesterday, they have killed more than 100 people, women and children, and old."

Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's Transitional Federal Government ousted⁹ the Islamic Courts Union from control of the capital, Mogadishu, in December 2006, but have since struggled to contain a growing insurgency¹⁰ involving several Islamist and clan-based militias¹¹ opposed to the presence of Ethiopian troops.

Residents say the bulk of the insurgents involved in Monday's fighting were former members of the Islamic Courts Union aligned¹² with Haji-Abdi's Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, rather than members of the more radical¹³ Shabaab. The United States recently designated the Shabaab as a terrorist organization.

Mogadishu returned to relative calm on Monday, with many residents taking the opportunity to flee. More than a million Somalis have been displaced by the conflict.

U.N. officials have called Somalia Africa's worst humanitarian¹⁴ crisis and warn that the situation continues to deteriorate¹⁵.

1 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

2 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

3 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 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

7 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

8 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。

9 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

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 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

13 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。