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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
At least five Muslim preachers from Pakistan have been shot to death outside a mosque1 in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland. There are reports that two more may have died in a hospital from their wounds. The motive2 behind the shootings is not clear.
The violence occurred early Wednesday outside the Tawfiq mosque in the Somali town of Galkayo. According to local officials, masked gunmen forced the seven preachers out of the mosque after morning prayers and opened fire, killing3 at least five of them on the spot.
Puntland officials subsequently launched a house-to-house search for the gunmen. There has been no claim of responsibility.
The preachers were part of a group of about 25 men, mostly Pakistanis, who arrived Tuesday in Galkayo from the southern Pakistani city of Karachi. They are thought to be missionaries4 from an international Islamic sect5 called Tabliq.
Tabliq has many branches around the world and in some parts, the sect is considered little more than an Islamic religious study group. But in other parts of the world, such as Pakistan, there have been charges the organization harbors militant6 extremists.
Residents in Galkayo say they do not know who murdered the preachers. But they say the gunmen may have been motivated by their belief that the preachers had ties with terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.
An al-Qaida-linked Somali group called al-Shabab is currently fighting to topple the central government in Mogadishu. The militant group, which has vowed7 to unite all of Somalia under strict Islamic rule, already controls much of southern Somalia and its rise to power has prompted deep concern among Puntland authorities and secular8 Somalis. Islamic militants9 are believed to have carried out the assassination10 of Puntland's minister of information last week in Galkayo.
International Crisis Group's Horn of Africa Project Director Ernst Jan Hogendoorn says the killing of the Pakistani preachers is just one more sign that the people in Puntland are becoming just as divided and polarized as Somalis in the south.
"One of the difficulties is that Puntland security services have clamped down very hard on Islamist elements in the region. And that has created a lot of resentment12 among ordinary people in Puntland. But it has also essentially13 forced them underground and they have been able to build what we understand to be a very robust14 network of contacts that span the entire region and into south and central Somalia," he said.
The International Crisis Group released a new report on Puntland, arguing that poor governance and lack of leadership has pushed the region toward rising instability and political tension in the past three years.
The report says Puntland, which had been relatively15 peaceful since its creation in 1998, is now in dire11 straits, suffering from the effects of out-of-control piracy16, rampant17 corruption18, and grinding poverty. The Brussels-based group says unless major reforms are enacted19, Puntland could disintegrate20 or possibly be overthrown21 by an underground militant Islamist movement.
1 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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2 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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3 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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4 missionaries | |
n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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5 sect | |
n.派别,宗教,学派,派系 | |
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6 militant | |
adj.激进的,好斗的;n.激进分子,斗士 | |
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7 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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8 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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9 militants | |
激进分子,好斗分子( militant的名词复数 ) | |
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10 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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11 dire | |
adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的 | |
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12 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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13 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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14 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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15 relatively | |
adv.比较...地,相对地 | |
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16 piracy | |
n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害 | |
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17 rampant | |
adj.(植物)蔓生的;狂暴的,无约束的 | |
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18 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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19 enacted | |
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 disintegrate | |
v.瓦解,解体,(使)碎裂,(使)粉碎 | |
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21 overthrown | |
adj. 打翻的,推倒的,倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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