VOA双语新闻 Potential Female Bombers（在线收听）

As predicted, violence ahead of Iraq's October 15 national referendum on the draft constitution is rising, with more than 110 people killed and as many wounded in car bombings since late Thursday. Wednesday's attack in Tal Afar, carried out by the first female suicide bomber in the two year-old insurgency, has prompted U.S. and Iraqi officials to review the security measures being planned for polling sites.

正如预计的那样，在伊拉克10月15号就宪法草案举行公决前，暴力活动愈演愈烈，从上星期四以来，汽车炸弹已经造成110多人丧生、许多人受伤。星期三在塔尔阿法发动袭击的人，是一名女性自杀炸弹爆炸者，这在历时两年的暴乱活动中是首开先例。这一事实促使美国和伊拉克官员重新研究为投票站采取更加严格的安全措施。

Even in a country, which has seen far more than its share of suicide bombings, Wednesday's attack at a military recruiting center in the northern city of Tal Afar was highly unusual.

即使在伊拉克这个自杀爆炸事件司空见惯的国家，星期三发生在北方城市塔尔阿法征兵中心的袭击仍不同寻常。

A woman, disguised in an Arab man's robes and headdress, slipped into a line of Army recruits and detonated explosives strapped to her body. The blast killed at least six people and wounded 35 others.

用阿拉伯男子长袍和头巾伪装起来的一名妇女混在应征的新兵队伍中，引爆了绑在自己身上的炸药。这次爆炸杀死了至少6人，还导致35人受伤。

The attack marked the first time that a woman succeeded in carrying out a suicide mission in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. Al-Qaida in Iraq, the terrorist group which has claimed responsibility for most of the deadly suicide bombings here, called the female volunteer a "blessed sister."

这次袭击是自从萨达姆于2003年被推翻以来，在伊拉克发生的第一次成功的妇女自杀爆炸。在伊拉克的基地恐怖组织是大多数自杀爆炸事件的肇事者，他们把这名妇女称为真主保佑的姐妹。

The incident has raised considerable alarm for U.S. military and Iraqi security forces, who are working on measures to secure neighborhoods and some six-thousand designated polling sites throughout the country.

美军和伊拉克安全部队正在筹划伊拉克全国各地约6000个指定的投票站的安全措施，这次事件在他们中间引起相当深的担忧。

The commander of the U.S. Army's First Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Colonel Jeffrey Snow, oversees a large area of western Baghdad, which is expected to have some 300 polling stations open on October 15.

美国陆军第十山地师第一旅的指挥官杰弗雷.斯诺上校监管巴格达西部的大片地区，当地预计在10月15号要开放三百个投票站。

Colonel Snow says he and his Iraqi Army counterpart have been trying to anticipate new tactics Al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may adopt to disrupt the referendum vote.

斯诺上校说，他和他的伊拉克军官同行，一直在努力探索基地组织在伊拉克的领袖扎卡维可能采用什么阴谋来扰乱公决投票。

Wednesday's attack raised the prospect that one of those methods could involve women suicide bombers attempting to infiltrate polling stations.

星期三的袭击使人们想到，恐怖分子可能会让女性潜入投票站参与自杀爆炸袭击。

He says that Zarqawi appears to be exploiting the fact that women are not usually body-searched at many outdoor security checkpoints. Muslim traditions dictate that women be searched only by other women, away from public view.

他说，扎卡维看来是 在利用一个事实，那就是在许多户外的安全检查关卡，妇女一般不会被搜身，穆斯林的传统规定：妇女只能在非公开场所由妇女来搜身。

"We have recognized the threat," said Mr. Snow. "The threat is real. In this case, there is a plan in place. We're looking to make sure that there's some type of facility, either indoors or some type of tents set up so women can search women. Now, the challenge is to get the adequate number of women to do searches."

斯诺说：“我们已经认识到这一威胁。这的确是一种危险。我们已经制订了计划来应付这种情况，我们正在研究落实某种设施，可能是室内的或者是室外的帐篷，便于妇女来检查妇女。目前的困难是找到足够的妇女从事搜身。”

The Pentagon has announced that about 1,000 additional U.S. troops would be deployed and nearly 10,000 others kept in Iraq for an extra seven to 10 days to ensure that next month's vote, and national elections scheduled for December 15, proceed smoothly.

五角大楼已经宣布要增补五千名美国军人部署在伊拉克，另外有一万名美军要延长在伊拉克的驻守时间七到十天，以确保下个月的投票以及定在12月15号举行的伊拉克全国选举顺利进行。

Top U.S. military leaders in Iraq say 190,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained, but only a small fraction can fight effectively without U.S. support.

在伊拉克的美国军方高级将领说，已经训练了19万伊拉克安全部队人员，但是其中只有小部分人能在没有美军帮助的情况下有效地战斗。

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has vowed to kill anyone who participated in the referendum vote. Last month, the Jordanian-born Sunni extremist went even further, declaring an all-out war to kill Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims.

扎卡维已经誓言要杀死任何参加公投的人。上个月，这个生于约旦的逊尼派极端分子变本加厉地宣称，要全面开战，杀死在伊拉克占多数的什叶派穆斯林。

During January parliamentary elections, Zarqawi, who opposes Iraq's political process because he believes it is un-Islamic, said that it carried out at least nine suicide bombings at or near polling sites. The violence killed more than two dozen people.

扎卡维认为，伊拉克政治进程不合伊斯兰教义，因而反对这一进程，他承认，在一月的议会选举中曾在投票站或投票站附近至少发动了九次自杀爆炸袭击。这波暴力活动杀害了二十多人。

Al-Qaida's warning not to take part in elections prevented many Sunni Arabs from voting in the country's first democratic elections. But millions of Shi'ites defied the threat and voted, giving them an overwhelming majority in the new government.

基地恐怖组织发出的不要参加选举的警告曾阻挡了许多逊尼派阿拉伯人在伊拉克的第一次民主选举中投票。但是好几百万什叶派穆斯林却不顾威胁参加了投票，这使得什叶派在新政府中成为绝大多数。