Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television, one of the most influential voices in the Arab world, has stopped reporting from Iraq after the Saddam Hussein regime banned two of its journalists.

"Al-Jazeera regrets this surprising and sudden stand, which is not justified," the broadcaster said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Iraqi information ministry barred Diyar al-Omari, an Iraqi, from reporting, and asked Tayseer Alouni to leave the country.

But the broadcaster said it would continue to transmit images from its offices in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul.

There are eight correspondents working for the station in the country.

Last week, the regime had expelled journalists working for CNN.