Baghdad: An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said on Saturday.
Gunmen stopped the car in which the Sunni coach and two of his Shiite players were riding and asked them to step out before shooting them on Wednesday in volatile Saidiyah neighborhood of southwestern Baghdad, said Secreatary General of Iraqi Tennis Union, Manham Kubba.
Extremists distributed leaflets warning people in mostly Sunni neighborhoods of Saidiyah and Ghazaliyah not to wear shorts, police said.
"Wearing shorts by youth is prohibited because it violates the principals of Islamic religion when showing forbidden parts of the body. Also women should wear the veil," the leaflets said.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it came amidst the fear of a rise in Islamic extremism in the war-torn country.
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