A tragedy that shook a nation_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

A tragedy that shook a nation

Sixteen young lives perished. The young men were killed by terrorists. They were policemen but they were also sons of parents. They belonged to an Armed Police unit but they were unarmed when they were slain in the most brutal way.

The terrorists used a bulldozer, home-made bombs and knives to attack the policemen, who were doing their regular morning drill in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Monday, killing 16 of them and injuring 16 others.

When the news reached me through a mobile phone news channel, my first reaction was a recollection of Armed Police soldiers rescuing earthquake victims in Sichuan in May. The most striking image was the photo showing a soldier holding a baby in his arms. The smiling young man in army uniform looked childish himself.

Now, 16 soldiers of the same age were killed. Their mothers are weeping; the whole nation is feeling the pain.

The terrorist attack was obviously the performance of those who seek the establishment of the so-called Eastern Turkistan State, an idea that has only met condemnations from countries across the continents, those who were admired by some Westerners as fighters for "freedom" and "human rights", and those who are followers of a Xinjiang woman whom some Western politicians recommended as a candidate for the Nobel peace prize.

For many years, some Western politicians have been so sympathetic with those who want to split China that they even keep silent at the violent and terrorist actions of the separatists. What happened in Lhasa, Tibet, in March were exactly such actions of violence and terrorism. The Westerners, however, never expressed condemnation of these actions.