Women wearing bras punished in Somalia

Residents said gunmen rounded up women with firm busts and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.

Al Shabaab forced us to wear their type of veil and now they order us to shake our breasts, a resident,Halima,said,adding that her daughters had been whipped on Thursday.

They first banned the former veil and introduced a hard fabric which stands stiffly on womens chests. They are now saying that breasts should be firm naturally,or just flat.

Officials of al Shabaab,which Washington says is al-Qaedas proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state,declined to comment.

The groups hardline interpretation of Islamic law has shocked many Somalis,who are traditionally moderate Muslims. Some residents,however,give the insurgents credit for restoring order to the regions under their control.

Abdullahi Hussein,a student in north Mogadishu,said his elder brother was thrown behind bars when he fought back a man who humiliated their sister by asking her to remove her bra.

My brother was jailed after he wrestled with a man that had beaten my sister and forced her to remove her bra. He could not stand it, Hussein said.