The UAE aviation authority has issued a ban on flights to the Iraqi capital Baghdad after shots were fired at a flydubai flight which landed at Baghdad International Airport from Dubai, UAE, on Monday.

The plane was carrying 154 passenger and no one was hurt. The plane's fuselage was damaged, reports said.

Low-cost carrier flydubai said flight FZ215 to Baghdad was fired at by small arms as it landed just before 5 pm local time.

All passengers disembarked normally and no one was injured. A replacement aircraft was flown to Iraq to carry passengers back to Dubai, the airline said.

The airline has suspended flights to Baghdad until further notice.

Three other UAE-based airlines - Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia -- have also suspended flights to Baghdad following the incident and the ban on flying to the city by UAE auhtorities.

“The safety of our customers and employees is always our first priority,” Etihad said in a statement.

"We suspended it right now," Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president of commercial operations at Emirates, said on the sidelines of a Dubai conference.

Asked if this was because of the incident involving a flydubai aircraft, he said: "That's why we suspended it." - TradeArabia News Service