Iraq has banned all fresh and frozen poultry imports from France where an outbreak of avian flu has been reported, Deputy Agriculture Minister Mahdi Al-Qaisi said on Tuesday.

"The ban is temporary until the World Organization for Animal Health declares France free from the flu," he told Reuters.

Several cases of H5N1 bird flu have been detected in France since last month, the first known ones in the country in eight years, according to the French agriculture ministry. - Reuters