More than 3,700 people have been hospitalised with breathing difficulties in Iraq, following a sandstorm which has swept through the country.
Visibility fell to less than one kilometre in central and southern cities as the storm cloaked the region, AFP photographers reported.
The airports in Basra and Najaf were both closed for the duration of the storm, which began to dissipate this morning.
Health ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr said Basra was the worst-hit province, accounting for more than 1,000 of the 3,747 hospital admissions attributed to the sandstorm.
Many of those who ventured out in Basra wore face coverings to protect themselves from the dust, an AFP photographer reported.
Sandstorms are a perennial feature of life in central and southern Iraq but the environment ministry has warned the country can expect to suffer a rising number of "dust days" in coming decades due to the impact of global warming.
A heavy sandstorm in 2022 saw one person die and more than 5,000 treated in hospital for breathing difficulties.
