take up 復習

イラクのラマディ付近でイスラム国による自爆テロがあり、17人のイラク兵が命を落としました。

Islamic State kills 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs near Ramadi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs on Thursday in a major attack on government forces that recaptured the western city of Ramadi in December, military officials said.

The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, a day after killing at least 80 people in bombings at an outdoor market and two checkpoints inside the capital.

The attacks near Ramadi dealt one of the heaviest blows to the army since it drove Islamic State out of the western city five months ago.

An army colonel told Reuters that militants killed at least 17 soldiers with suicide truck bombs in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north, army sources said.

An officer said the attack appeared designed to delay an expected army offensive into a nearby region that would have completely severed militant supply routes to Falluja, the Islamic State-held city on the western approaches to Baghdad that Iraqi forces have ringed for more than six months.

Another officer said reinforcements had arrived to the area to help clear the militants out of houses where they had taken up positions.

以下略

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0Y30WL

今回取りあげるのは、"take up"です。『ジーニアス英和辞典』では、「再び始める、引き継ぐ、(問題など)を取り上げる、(仕事、研究など)に取りかかる、(時間、場所など)をとる、占める」などの意味がありました。ここは、「陣地をかまえていた、陣地としていた」と解釈できます。(Akim)