An Iraqi soldier poses in a scarf. (Reuters)

Baghdad, Dec. 31: They want to be invisible, these young women at Baghdad University explained. They were sitting in a small group ? five students with pale head scarves pulled tightly around their sombre faces.

They would not give their names. That would be crazy, they said. The whole point of wearing the scarves now was to be anonymous and unimportant, to avoid being singled out and followed, or kidnapped, or shot. It was more than a matter of blending in. It was a matter of disappearing into the landscape.

?I put on the scarf because I wanted to walk in the street without fearing someone will kill me or kidnap me,? said one of the women. ?I want to finish my studies. Without the scarf I cannot. I heard rumours about killing women without a scarf. Why should I risk my life??

This is the new reality for many women in Iraq, Muslims and Christians alike. As the months have passed since the US-led invasion, fewer women are daring to venture out without wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf.

In Baghdad, moderate Muslim women used to feel they had a choice whether to wear the scarf, even as religious oppression under Saddam Hussein grew over the past decade. Now, in many neighbourhoods, it is hard to find a woman outdoors without a head scarf.

Conservative Muslims believe that women should cover their heads to hide their beauty and not tempt the men who see them. Such instructions are spelled out in the Quran.

The practice of wearing head scarves varies widely throughout the Islamic world, from more secular countries such as Turkey where many women dress in the western style, to strict religious societies such as Saudi Arabia where all women cover their heads.

Although Iraq is predominantly Muslim, for many decades its capital was a trendy, modern city. In the 1960s, women wore short skirts and blouses with low necklines. But their daughters say they do not have such freedom today. They blame a postwar insurgency bolstered by conservative hardliners.

?Because of the current situation in the country, lack of security, the occupation and many other things, people started to look for a way to escape the terror,? said Fadhil Shaker, a professor.