被阿富汗塔利班扣押的西方夫妇抵达加拿大
被阿富汗塔利班扣押了5年的分别是美国籍和加拿大籍的夫妇带着他们三个孩子从巴基斯坦乘飞机转道英国飞抵加拿大。
巴基斯坦官员说，巴基斯坦军队获得美国情报机构提供的情报后，星期三在与阿富汗交界处巴基斯坦一侧解救了美国公民科尔曼和她的丈夫、加拿大公民博伊尔。他们被绑架者用汽车把他们从阿富汗送到巴基斯坦刚刚几小时。
博伊尔星期五向美联社提供的一份书面声明说：“上帝给了我和我的家人无比的坚强和决心。”
巴基斯坦军方星期四披露了营救行动的细节。
一架美国飞机在伊斯兰堡的一个军事基地准备把这一家人送到德国的美国军事基地体检。但是巴基斯坦保安部队的消息来源对美国之音说，博伊尔担心他们受到仔细盘查，拒绝上这架飞机。后来博伊尔一家乘坐一架巴基斯坦国营航空公司的飞机前往英国。
科尔曼和博伊尔2012年在阿富汗以背包客的身份旅行时失踪。阿富汗塔利班宣称他们绑架了这对夫妇。美国坚持认为绑架者是与塔利班有关联的哈卡尼网络。
哈卡尼网络曾公布过显示人质被关押的两个视频，要求用博伊尔夫妇交换被捕的成员。被押期间，科尔曼和博伊尔生了三个孩子。三个孩子随他们一同获救。
Western Family Held By Taliban Arrives in Canada
An American-Canadian couple and their three children arrived in Canada after five years in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan. The family flew Friday from Pakistan to Canada via Britain.
Acting on a tip from U.S. intelligence, Pakistani officials say their troops rescued U.S. national Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, on Wednesday hours after their captors transported them in a car to the Pakistani side of the long porous Afghan border.
Boyle provided a written statement to The Associated Press Friday saying, "God has given me and my family unparalleled resilience and determination."
The Pakistan military revealed details of the rescue operation on Thursday.
A U.S. plane was standing by at the military airbase in Islamabad, waiting to fly the family to a U.S. military base in Germany for a medical checkup, but Pakistani security sources told VOA Boyle refused to board the flight fearing their “scrutiny”.
Instead, the family boarded Pakistan’s state-run carrier and left for Britain.
Coleman and Boyle went missing while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012. The Afghan Taliban later claimed responsibility for kidnapping them. U.S. officials maintain the couple was in captivity of the Haqqani terrorist organization linked to the Taliban.
The insurgent group, which released two videos of the hostages while they were in captivity, had been demanding the release of their prisoners in exchange for Boyle and his wife. While in captivity, the couple had three children, who were rescued with them.
联合国：越来越多学校成为攻击目标
联合国说，世界上越来越多的学校受到攻击，今年上半年发生了500多次对学校的攻击，其中很多学校位于交战区。
联合国儿童与武装冲突问题特使甘巴在联合国安理会的一次会议上说，2017年受到炸弹袭击和被摧毁的学校数量可能是有史以来最多的一年。
甘巴说，联合国确认了2016年学校和医院受到753次攻击，但是实际数字很可能更高，因为一些地方过于危险，联合国人员无法进入。
甘巴说，最近若干年来，以学校儿童、教师和教育机构为目标而发功攻击已成为一个趋势，可能是因为学校被视为象征国家的一部分，或是因为武装组织不喜欢学校教授的课程。
UN Says Attacks on Schools on the Rise
The United Nations says attacks on schools worldwide are on the rise, with more than 500 attacks in the first six months of the year, many of them in war zones.
Virginia Gamba, the U.N. special representative for children in armed conflict, told a U.N. Security Council meeting that 2017 might be a record year for the number of schools bombed and destroyed.
In 2016, Gamba said the United Nations was able to verify 753 attacks on schools and hospitals. But she said the actual number is likely much higher because many places are too dangerous for U.N. staff to enter.
She said a new pattern of attacks has emerged in recent years that have targeted school children, teachers and education facilities. She said this could have happened because schools are seen as a symbol of the state or armed groups are unhappy with the school’s curriculum.
