The announcement came after an Italian national was detained in the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, in western Iraq, after having been issued with a 10-day visa in the autonomous Kurdish north of the country.

"Any foreigner entering Iraq through the border posts of Kurdistan without a visa from the Baghdad government will be arrested," under a new directive issued by the interior ministry, spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said.

"Foreigners wishing to visit Iraqi territory, whether they are journalists or others, must obtain an official visa to carry out their activities in Iraq," he said.

"The interior ministry is the only authority entitled" to issue such a visa, the spokesman said.

Under the law, foreigners without the proper visa from Baghdad will face legal charges, he said. They would be "sentenced to fines or prison terms, to be followed by deportation."

However, an official of the autonomous government in Kurdistan, Falah Mustapha, said the region's visa procedures were being coordinated with the authorities in Baghdad.

Foreigners are unlikely to be arrested under the new visa rules in the three autonomous Kurdish provinces, where the Kurdish peshmerga instead of the central government's security forces are in control.

On Friday, the New York Times reported that a 33-year-old Italian, Luca Marchio, had been detained in Fallujah after having passed through northern Iraq following trips to Egypt and Turkey.

"I am a tourist. I want to see the most important cities in the country. That is the reason why I am here now ... I want to see and understand the reality because I have never been here before," he told the daily.

Khalaf told AFP the Italian was deported after having been detained.