Originally Posted by GearUp CheerUp
I believe the reason is so that in the event of an uncontained engine failure (turbine disc bursting) the bits that come out like a bomb going off wont go in to the fuel tanks or sever hydraulic lines or destroy the integrity of the wing.
On a swept wing, if the disc element heads inboard it can easily get to the various systems in the inboard wing.
barit1 is right, an uncontained engine failure is bad news wherever your engine is.