Emirates airline is set to stop flights to Arbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, in northern Iraq, from August 12, said a report.

The decision comes at the back of the struggle of Iraqi and Kurdish forces to counter militants controlling large areas of the country, said the Gulf News report.

However, the airline will continue operations to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and to Basra in the southern region, it said.

“Emirates is taking precautionary measures and is currently working on alternative routing for flights using Iraqi airspace,” the airline was quoted as saying.