Gunmen Hold School Children Hostage

By Bill Gasperini

Police say over a dozen heavily-armed men and women stormed into a school just as students and teachers entered the building on the first day of classes in the new school year.

There was some shooting when the militants¹ seized the building and reports of at least two deaths.

Local authorities say the attackers are wearing suicide bomb belts and have threatened to blow up the school if Russian troops attempt to storm it. They say they are holding talks with the militants, who are demanding that rebels imprisoned² in the neighboring region of Ingushetia be freed.

North Ossetia is located next to the breakaway region of Chechnya, where Moscow has been trying to crush a struggle for full independence from Russia for most of the past decade. Officials say it is not clear if the militants are from Chechnya.

The attack follows a suicide bombing Tuesday in Moscow and the crash of two airliners³ last week that killed 90 people, incidents which authorities believe were carried out by Chechen suicide bombers⁴.

President Putin cut short his holiday and returned to Moscow to meet with cabinet and security officials.

Mr. Putin has long refused to negotiate with the Chechens and insists the conflict in Chechnya is solely⁵ an issue of terrorism.

Defense⁶ Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia will continue the fight to defeat the rebels. He tells reporters, this is a war without a front line, adding Russia is not the only country which faces this. He says, it is no accident that the bombing near the Moscow metro⁷ on Tuesday occurred the same day that two buses were blown up in Israel, referring to the latest suicide bombings in the Middle East.

Chechen militants have seized hostages before, most notably⁸ at a Moscow theater in October 2002 when 800 people were held for three days before troops used a knock-out gas and stormed the building. Sum 130 of the hostages died in the incident.

While denouncing terrorist actions, many world leaders have also urged the Russian president to seek some kind of political solution to the Chechen conflict.

Bill Gasperini, VOA news, Moscow.

 

注释：
storm 突袭
blow up 爆炸
Ingushetia 英古什人（居住在北高加索山区的穆斯林民族）
North Ossetia 北奥塞梯
Chechnya 车臣
metro 地铁
hostage 人质
denounce 谴责

 

 

1 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。

2 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

3 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句

4 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。