One of the new victims was on the same plane as five members of a women's basketball team and their male coach, returning from the United States, who were diagnosed a day earlier, said regional health minister Ziryan Osman.

"We recorded three more cases," Osman told AFP.

"Two of the people are from Sulaimaniyah, one of whom lives there, and the other is an Egyptian who works there. One case is a 12-year old child, who is the brother of one of the female basketball players."

The six previously confirmed swine flu sufferers returned to Iraqi Kurdistan from Chicago a week ago and were kept in hospital for tests until their condition was confirmed on Thursday.

On their way back from the US city, the team passed through the Jordanian capital Amman, where another female player was held because tests found she had the A(H1N1) virus.

"The Egyptian man was on the plane that transported the basketball players from Amman to Sulaimaniyah," Osman said.

The third newly-diagnosed case involved a Malaysian man who had flown from Dubai to the Kurdish capital Arbil, the health minister added.

Swine flu has infected 59,814 people in 113 countries worldwide and killed 263, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation on Friday.