The Paris-based watchdog pointed to more than 15 physical assaults on journalists, a dozen arrests or detentions, and the targeting of five media premises in the region during December, which it said "contravened legal and constitutional provisions".

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that following a series of attacks on massage salons and alcohol shops in Zakho, a Kurdish town near Iraq's border with Turkey, several media offices were "torched".

"Since then, the list of journalists being physically attacked or detained has steadily lengthened," it said.

Most of the incidents cited occurred between December 2, when the Zakho violence erupted, and December 4. One incident, the arrest of a journalist, was reported on December 20.

The watchdog welcomed the findings of a commission of enquiry established by Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani which said the violence was initially provoked by media supportive of the minority Kurdistan Islamic Union political party.

The commission added, however, that groups close to Barzani's own Kurdistan Democratic Party had a role in the violence.