All foreign flights to and from the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil will be suspended from Friday evening, its airport director Talar Faiq Salih said.

"All international flights without exception to and from Arbil will stop from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday following a decision by the Iraqi cabinet and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi," she told AFP on Thursday.

Abadi ordered the halt to flights serving airports in Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation for a Monday independence referendum held in defiance of Baghdad which delivered a resounding 92.73 "yes" vote