Restrictions will remain in place until February 28 and concern Kurdistan’s Erbil and Sulaimani airports, the Rudaw news channel said.

The bas was due to expire this Friday.

"It is unfortunate that the Iraqi government issued this decision while we were expecting talks to begin to solve the problems," Kurdish acting Transport Minister Mawlud Bawamurad told Rudaw.

Military, diplomatic, humanitarian and UN flights are reportedly exempted but subject to approval by the Iraqi government.

More than 92 percent of Kurds voted in September in favor of the autonomy's secession from Iraq. Baghdad called the referendum illegal and launched a military operation to recapture the Kurdish-held disputed areas of the country, also imposing sanctions on Kurdish authorities.

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