Shorts disallowed.
From the Sydney Morning Herald's website www.smh.com.au
Extremists kill Iraqi athletes for wearing shorts
May 28, 2006 - 2:57PM
An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were shot to death this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said, reporting the latest in a series of recent attacks attributed to Islamic extremists.
A US Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopter, meanwhile, has crashed and its two crew members are missing in Anbar province, a volatile area west of the capital where insurgents are active. Hostile fire was not suspected as the cause of the crash, the US military said.
In the Baghdad incident, gunmen stopped a car carrying the Sunni Arab coach and two Shi'ite players, asked them to step out and then shot them, said Manham Kubba secretary-general of the Iraqi Tennis Union.
Extremists had distributed leaflets warning people in the mostly Sunni neighbourhoods of Saidiyah and Ghazaliyah warning people not to wear shorts, police said.
"Wearing shorts by youth are prohibited because it violates the principles of Islamic religion when showing forbidden parts of the body. Also women should wear the veil," the leaflets said.
No-one claimed responsibility for the slayings, which come amid worries that Islamic extremism is spreading in the war-torn country.
Sunni cleric Eid al-Zoubayi denounced the attack.
"Islamic religion is an easy religion and it allows wearing sport shorts as long as they don't show the forbidden parts of the body, so the acts that are targeting the sport are criminal," he said.
It was the second incident involving athletes in just over a week. Fifteen members of a taekwondo team were kidnapped in western Iraq while driving to a training camp in neighbouring Jordan on May 17.
(article continues at http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/extremists-kill-iraqi-athletes-for-wearing-shorts/2006/05/28/1148754861701.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1)
Extremists kill Iraqi athletes for wearing shorts
May 28, 2006 - 2:57PM
An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were shot to death this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said, reporting the latest in a series of recent attacks attributed to Islamic extremists.
A US Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopter, meanwhile, has crashed and its two crew members are missing in Anbar province, a volatile area west of the capital where insurgents are active. Hostile fire was not suspected as the cause of the crash, the US military said.
In the Baghdad incident, gunmen stopped a car carrying the Sunni Arab coach and two Shi'ite players, asked them to step out and then shot them, said Manham Kubba secretary-general of the Iraqi Tennis Union.
Extremists had distributed leaflets warning people in the mostly Sunni neighbourhoods of Saidiyah and Ghazaliyah warning people not to wear shorts, police said.
"Wearing shorts by youth are prohibited because it violates the principles of Islamic religion when showing forbidden parts of the body. Also women should wear the veil," the leaflets said.
No-one claimed responsibility for the slayings, which come amid worries that Islamic extremism is spreading in the war-torn country.
Sunni cleric Eid al-Zoubayi denounced the attack.
"Islamic religion is an easy religion and it allows wearing sport shorts as long as they don't show the forbidden parts of the body, so the acts that are targeting the sport are criminal," he said.
It was the second incident involving athletes in just over a week. Fifteen members of a taekwondo team were kidnapped in western Iraq while driving to a training camp in neighbouring Jordan on May 17.
(article continues at http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/extremists-kill-iraqi-athletes-for-wearing-shorts/2006/05/28/1148754861701.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1)